Press release
2023 was a pivotal year for Gasunie: Start of several large-scale new energy projects
Groningen, 1 March 2024 - 2023 was a pivotal year for the future of Gasunie. After years of preparation, in the presence of HM King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands the first ground was broken in the Maasvlakte industrial area of Rotterdam, marking the start of construction of the first section of the national hydrogen network. The final investment decision has been made for Porthos, the first large-scale Dutch project for transport and storage of CO2 (CCS), and the construction phase has now begun. Major strides have also been made on the construction of WarmtelinQ, a pipeline to transport residual heat from the Port of Rotterdam to homes and businesses in the province of Zuid-Holland. To accomplish these projects and all the other ambitions, Gasunie’s workforce grew by 12% in 2023.
Janneke Hermes, CFO: ‘Gasunie is literally building the energy system of the future, every day. The projects from our Vision 2030 are being realised step by step. At the same time, we are doing everything we can to ensure the security of energy supply. This way we are contributing to a clean, modern economy. We are now doing this with more than 3,000 colleagues in the Netherlands and Germany.’
Gas market has stabilised, but is still tense
After an unprecedentedly turbulent year in 2022, volumes and prices on the gas market stabilised in 2023. Gasunie is proud of the role we have been able to play in this. Thanks to rapid additional capacity building, our LNG terminals Gate and EemsEnergyTerminal were able to welcome a record number of LNG tankers in 2023, enabling us to support availability and, with this, affordability of natural gas in the Netherlands, Germany and other countries in north-western Europe. At the same time, Gasunie notes that there is still scarcity on the gas market and prices are still higher than the long-term averages of recent decades. Accordingly, security of supply remains an important point of attention for Gasunie.
Revenue and results dipped slightly
The relative stabilisation on the gas market is reflected in Gasunie’s financial figures. Gasunie’s reported revenue of € 2,061 million is almost € 200 million lower than the company’s revenue in 2022. The reported operating result is € 615 million, a decrease of € 114 million compared to last year. Aside from the lower revenue, operating expenses were up on last year. Personnel expenses increased as a result of the increase in the company’s workforce, with more people needed to bring about the energy transition. In addition, the pre-investments in the energy transition also pushed up operating expenses.
Zuidbroek nitrogen plant fully operational
The nitrogen plant in Zuidbroek, which makes imported high-calorific gas suitable for use in Dutch homes and businesses, was commissioned in the third quarter of 2023 and is now fully operational. The plant can produce 180,000 m3 of nitrogen per hour. Main contractor Air Products will officially deliver and hand over the plant to Gasunie in March 2024.
Focus on broad prosperity and social returns
When making investment decisions, Gasunie increasingly focuses on social returns. For Gasunie, as the company stands today, making a profit is no longer a goal in itself, but a condition for realising projects with a high social dividend. With this in mind, when planning energy transition projects, Gasunie increasingly approaches its considerations from the perspective of ‘broad prosperity’. This means that we occasionally also invest in projects that are less profitable financially or projects that have a negative effect on our own carbon emissions but that have added value for society in a broader sense.
To make our social contribution to making the Netherlands carbon neutral even more transparent, concurrently with the publication of the annual report Gasunie is publishing an interactive online Gasunie Transition Pathway Calculator. In our base scenario, all new-build projects between now and 2030 will be operational by the delivery year we have set. Using this tool, everyone can calculate the situation in more favourable and less favourable scenarios. In our base scenario, all new-build projects between now and 2030 will be operational by the delivery year we have set. Using this tool, everyone can calculate the situation in more favourable and less favourable scenarios.
Janneke Hermes: ‘The transition projects we are already working on deliver good social returns in all scenarios, as can be seen in the future scenario study II3050, which the Dutch grid operators carried out for the second time last year. We have a promising portfolio of projects in the pipeline and that are ready to move into the construction phase that can contribute to the energy transition.’