The Netherlands wavers between protection and market

The modern European gas market has its origins in the discovery of the enormous Groningen field in the Netherlands in 1959. The Dutch market structure set up in the 1960s, characterized by close public-private cooperation, a linkage between the gas and oil price, and the creation of a fine-meshed infrastructure, served as an example for Europe. Now that the market is being liberalized, the Netherlands struggles with its inheritance. The ambition of becoming a European gas hub clashes with old structures.