The effectiveness of policies to transform a gas-exporting country into a gas-transit country: The case of The Netherlands

The Netherlands has been a major European natural gas producer and exporter for many decades, but now faces the challenge to deal with diminishing resources. In response, the Dutch government initiated a gas-hub strategy, which is the policy to transform the gas industry from an export-oriented business into a transit-oriented business. This policy included a number of investments in the gas infrastructure as well as institutional reforms to enhance the liquidity of the gas market. We study the effects of this gas-hub policy. Using hourly data on the Dutch gas balance over the period 2006-2013, we find that gas storage and trading have become more important, but that the level of gas in transit in the Netherlands remained fairly constant. Consequently, the Dutch gas industry is still mainly oriented on domestic production and export of gas, while the Dutch gas hub (TTF) has become a key virtual trading place. The policy lesson from the Dutch experience is that implementing a gas-hub strategy requires significant investments in the gas infrastructure, while their effects do not necessarily become visible in the short run.