AMSTERDAM, April 20 (Reuters) - The estimated cost toreinforce more than 150,000 Dutch homes to withstand earthquakescaused by extracting gas in the massive Groningen field wasincreased to at least 30 billion euros ($32 billion), theprovince said on Monday.
Gas extraction at the field, Europe's largest, which reachedmore than 50 billion cubic meters last year, is causingincreasingly stronger and more frequent earthquakes. Thestrongest was in 2013 and was 3.6 magnitude.
The report commissioned by the northern Dutch province increased the number of buildings in need of structuralimprovements to 152,000, up from an estimate of 90,000.
The report published by the Van Rossum research bureau onMonday said the estimated construction cost was 150,000-200,000euros, more than the value most homes in the region.
A previous report estimated the cost at 6.5 billion euros toreinforce 90,000 buildings.
Production at the Groningen gas field has been increasinglyunder fire since the Dutch Safety Board censored the governmentin February for failing to take into account adequately the riskthe small earthquakes it causes pose to citizens of Groningen.
Last week, the government said it would immediatelyimplement a court ruling and halt production at Loppersum, partof the Groningen field. [ID: nL5N0XB2V3]
The NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij), a joint venturebetween Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil whichextracts the gas, has set aside 1.2 billion euros ($1.34billion) to compensate for damages cause by the tremors.($1 = 0.9308 euros) (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Alison Williams)
