THE PROJECT
On 1 June 2022, the then Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK) granted ONE-Dyas the licences for the development of the N05-A gas field in the Dutch North Sea. The platform site is located in the Netherlands, around 20 kilometres north of the islands of Borkum, Rottumerplaat and Schiermonnikoog. A maximum of twelve wells will be drilled from this location, some of which will target the N05-A field and others a number of adjacent fields that may contain gas.
The N05-A platform is the Netherlands’ first offshore gas processing platform in the North Sea to run entirely on wind energy. To this end, a cable has been laid to the nearby German Riffgat wind farm. Thanks to this connection, emissions are virtually zero during gas extraction. In addition, ONE-Dyas is utilising an existing pipeline already in the North Sea, and only a short new pipeline has been laid as a branch line to bring the gas ashore. The N05-A platform has been designed to be suitable for the production of green hydrogen in the near future. Production at N05-A commenced in 2025.
The N05-A production platform is installed in the North Sea at the beginning of August. The installation did take place using a crane vessel that runs on liquefied natural gas instead of the commonly used diesel. This minimises emissions during installation.
In autumn, ONE-Dyas drilled the first well from which natural gas can be produced from field N05-A in the Dutch part of the North Sea. Before drilling, a mobile drilling rig was temporarily at the project site. Now that the first well has been drilled, the mobile drilling platform has left again. The production platform N05-A will be used to produce the natural gas.
Construction of the gas pipeline is under way. A short, new natural gas pipeline of about 15 kilometres will be laid from production platform N05-A to the existing natural gas pipeline network of Noordgastransport (NGT). The temporary works are partly visible from the shore.
Due to poor weather conditions, the work has not yet been completed. It is expected that the installation ship will be able to leave in mid-February.
In March 2025, the test phase of production from the N05-A platform began, with natural gas being produced. The natural gas is transported to the mainland via the new short pipeline and the existing NGT pipeline. Until the cable can be installed, gas generators are temporarily being used.
The platform will be the first offshore gas treatment platform in the Dutch North Sea to run on offshore wind energy. For this purpose, a cable has been laid to the nearby German Riffgat wind farm. This connection results in near-zero emissions during the drilling of wells and the production of natural gas.
The drilling is fully electric, using green electricity from the nearby German wind farm Riffgat. As a result of electrification, emissions during drilling are near-zero. A temporary mobile drilling platform will be installed on site for the drilling operation and will be removed again once the work has been completed. The production from the German wells is expected to start in the first half of 2026.
ONE-Dyas has started gas production from the second production well on the N05-A platform in the North Sea. This increases N05-A’s production to 1 billion cubic metres per year.
ONE-Dyas has started gas production from the third production well on the N05-A platform in the North Sea. This increases N05-A’s production to 2 billion cubic metres per year.
PROJECT INTRODUCTION VIDEO
*The N05-A production platform has now been installed in the North Sea, connected to the German wind farm, and supplies natural gas to households in Germany and the Netherlands.