NAM

Following the discovery of an oil field near Schoonebeek in 1943 by Exploratie Nederland, a Shell company, Shell and Esso decided to put up the capital jointly for a new oil exploration and production company: Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij, or NAM for short. NAM was formed on 19 September 1947. It's logo represents the five cutters in a drill bit, seen from below.

Development
NAM made the first natural gas discovery in the Netherlands in Coevorden in 1948. Just over ten years later, in 1959, NAM discovered the famous Groningen gas field near Slochteren, one of the biggest in the world, with original producible gas reserves of around 2,700 billion m³. That discovery also opened the door to offshore gas exploration and production, and in 1961 NAM was the first company in Western Europe to drill for gas in the North Sea.

Today
NAM is now the largest gas producer in the Netherlands, with annual production of around 50 billion m³. A little over half of this gas (27 billion m³) comes from the Groningen field and the rest from various smaller fields elsewhere on the mainland (12.5 billion m³) and in the North Sea (11 billion m³). Gas produced by NAM covers around 75% of Dutch demand. NAM also continues to produce oil , around 0.8 million m³ a year or about 4% of the country's total oil requirement (50 million m³). NAM accounts for just under half of the oil produced in the Netherlands (2 million m³).

Future
NAM is working for the future. A good example is the underground gas storage facilities that NAM has constructed at Langelo and Grijpskerk, which enable us to meet demand even on the coldest days. Meanwhile, the search for new gas fields in the Netherlands and under the North Sea continues. On the basis of the currently proven reserves, NAM estimates that the Netherlands still has enough gas for about 25 years - depending, of course, on the rate of consumption.