In 1959, after eleven years of test-drilling, a Dutch oil company jointly owned by Shell and Jersey Standard finally hit natural gas under the muddy reclaimed soil of The Netherlands' north eastern province of Groningen. How big the fields were neither the oilmen nor the government ever felt moved to disclose. But fortnight ago. coming before Parliament to ask authority to tap the fields. Economics Minister Jan De Pous at last let the gas out of the bag. The Netherlands' known reserves of natural gas. he reported, amounted to at least 350 billion cubic metersmore than the combined reserves...
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