NATURAL GAS FOR EUROPE

acceptor would be suitable for one type of trade in one particular area, whereas the coin-operated machine would be more suitable in another district, possibly even an adjoining district ? It is only through experiments that the answers to such questions can be found.

The BP note-acceptor site which it is hoped to operate at Watford in 1966 will be watched with interest by all in the oil industry and motor trade. No doubt the customer himself will find participation in the experiment an interesting matter.

Driving into the forecourt he will see six pumps on two circular, covered islands. One will have three one pound pumps and the other will have three ten shilling pumps. He will decide which island pump he prefers, put his car beside it and go to the note-acceptor machine. It is housed in a small cabinet and has a short push button key board. The motorist has to push a button selecting the pump he wants. He will, for example, choose the button for one pound's worth of BP Super Plus, or that for BP Super or the third for BP Regular. Similarly he can order ten shillings worth.

He next puts his one pound note into an open drawer which he pushes forward on a slot into the machine. The change appears in a metal cup just below his hand, together with the receipt. Collecting these, the motorist walks across to his car and fills the tank, the note-acceptor machine having directed the right volume of fuel to his particular pump.

The coin-operated pump, the post-payment type' of selfservice and the note-acceptor machine are all tangible developments in better service for the motorist in the future.

The discovery of natural gas at Groningen in the Netherlands was "a discovery that significantly altered Western Europe's energy security picture and that also led to new gas finds in other parts of Holland and in Germany, while spurring the entire North Sea exploration programme". Here we take a close look at the scale upon which Dutch gas is being used domestically and the way in which it can provide long-term energy supplies for other European countries.

By September l 6th, 1965, the first milliard cubic metres of natural gas had been produced from the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands. The word milliard is not one that we have occasion to use very frequently for it is not often that we need to think in terms of 1,000 million. So, to try to envisage a volume of I milliard cubic metres is a task that is, say least, exceedin.gly difficult. However, it is certamly possible to gain some idea of the order of If we think of a pipeline- say of 42 inches d1ame!er, _the used 111 Europe- and if we think of that pipeline as bemg filled with natural gas and running from the. e_arth out to moon, round it and back again, we can arnve at a rough idea of the magnitude of I milliard cubic metres of natural gas.

As we said, by September 16th last year, the first milliard cubic of natural gas had been produced from the Gronmgen gas field. Yet that amount, vast though it may be, is still less than one tenth of I per cent of the proven reserves of natural gas existing in the largest gas field in Europe and the second largest in the world.

It was in 1959 that, after a total of thirty-four test wells had been drilled, the existence of a large gas reservoir in Groningen was proved by the sinking of the well now known as Slochteren Number One. The company responsible for finding the Groningen gas is N.V. Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij, which was founded in 1947 by two international oil companies, Esso and Shell, who a.re equal partners in the venture. N.A.M. had already discovered two or three other Dutch gas small, but of local importance- before it made. the stnke in the province of Groningen. But the field remains far and away the largest and most unportant s01irce of natural gas in Europe.

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It is large enough not only to supply the Netherlands itself until well into the twenty-first century but also to provide many milliards of cubic metres of gas to such neighbouring countries as may wish to avail themselves of this vast supply of primary energy conveniently situated in western Europe.

The domestic sale and distribution of the natural gas is being handled by N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie. Forty per cent. of this company is owned by Dutch State Mines, 25 per cent. each by Esso and Shell, and the remaining 10 per cent. by the Dutch Government. The sale of the gas to other countries-subject to official approval-is the province of N.A.M. (Gas Export) and Internationale Gas Transport Maatschappij N.V., another company jointly owned by Esso and Shell. The small head offices of each of these organizations are in The Hague.

In determining how to derive the maximum benefit from the gas, it has been necessary for the Dutch to 'think big'. Proven reserves stand at 1, 100 milliard cubic metresabout 38,500 milliard cubic feet, or the equivalent in terms of energy of 1, 100 million tons of coal. If it were possible to run five 42-inch pipelines from the earth to the sun, they could all be filled with gas from the Groningen field.

Given such a fund of energy, the Dutch are naturally concerned, first of all, with making the best possible use of it themselves. That is where the 'thinking big' comes in; for Gasunie has had to build more than 600 miles of large diameter pipeline to make the gas available to all parts of the Netherlands. If this were all, the task would not be so formidable; but besides building the main pipelines and developing regional networks, Gasunie has to arrange for the conversion of 3-!- million gas appliances from town gas to natural gas. Natural gas has about twice the heat content of town gas, and therefore existing appliances have to be modified. The conversion of all the appliances in over 2-!- niillion Dutch homes is itself a Herculean task. It can, of course, only be accomplished over a period of time, with districts being 'converted' in stages as each is linked up to receive natural gas.

Besides domestic conversion, there is a great deal of industrial conversion to be done. The large factories of Philips Electrical, for example, at Eindhoven, have more than 500 different types of gas burners, 90 per cent. of whi.ch were found to be unsuitable for the use of natural gas. But despite the work that conversion entails, industrial users are particularly enthusiastic about tbe change because of the favourable rates offered to large-volume consumers. Although commercial undertakings are, having to bear the cost of conversion themselves, most of them expect to recoup the expenditure in a fairly short time. Thereafter, they will reap the benefits of reduced energy costs.

Groningen started producing gas for local use late in 1963. In the space of one year, 225 miles of pipeline bad been laid and the appliances in half-a-million homes had been converted from town gas. During 1964 and 1965 the pipelines have spread down the length of the country, connecting with The Hague, Rotterdam and Maastricht in the extreme south. The cost of the entire system, which Gasunie expects to have completed by the end of 1966, a year ahead of schedule, is in the region of about £80 million.

Meanwhile? block by block, the conversion proceeds. It al!llost military precision. The municipal gas d1stnbut10n gnds are divided into sections each contain!ng _a roughly e<.J.ual number of customers'; and each section 1s converted ma single day. This frequently means that a task force of conversion crews must deal with perhaps 3,000 appliances in one conversion district. The key to an exercise of. magnitude is meticulous planning and close co-ordmation of the conversion teams before they go into action. The conversion of industrial condiffers in that it concerns a much larger variety of appliances; for the equipment to be.changed over ranges from v'.lst ovens and furnaces to the small burners needed for delicate glasswork.

One obvious result of the discovery and development of the Groningen field is that the people of the Netherlands have become very They feel that they must make the best_Poss1b!e use of this immense store of natural wealth. One. 1mmed1ate result is that the demand for gas cookers has mcreased And although only one Dutch home m ten now has any kind of central heah?g, the demand for. this type of comfort is growing steadily. Eventually, as m the United States where large reserves have long been used intensively', natural gas 1s to supply between a quarter and a third of the nat10n s total energy requirements.

Meanwhile, with enough gas to last them until the century, the Dutch are also pressing ahead in tbe field of exports. At present in Western Europe, natural gas account.s for about 2 per cent. of the total energy supply; but m the space of a decade its share of the market

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