Gas Sales Organisation Builds on EBN’s Existing Activities
For more than 50 years, Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) has operated as an investor and knowledge partner in Dutch energy projects. In recent years, its role has expanded to include more operational responsibilities, such as SCAN and CO2 transport and storage projects.
Since early 2025, the public energy company has taken on an additional role: independently marketing primarily natural gas from Dutch small fields and acting on behalf of the Dutch government as the filling agent for the country’s gas storage facilities. For EBN, this represents a new line of business, but one that is closely aligned with its existing activities in safeguarding security of energy supply.
New organisation, new systems
To perform these new tasks, EBN had to build significant new capabilities. This included a new department, new IT systems, new procedures and a new team. The team now consists of seventeen specialists, most of whom joined EBN from outside the organisation. “We have brought in experts from the power market, the gas sector and the international trading community,” says responsible manager Maarten Bomhof. “Our team has a practical and entrepreneurial mindset. Within EBN, it is rightly customary to carefully align decisions across the organisation. These two working styles complement one another well and contribute to both thoroughness and speed.”
In February 2025, EBN started marketing its gas and, on 1 October, fully took over the marketing of its Small Fields gas from GasTerra. “Since then, we have been marketing all of our own gas production, which generally accounts for around 40% of Dutch gas production,” says Bomhof. “There are exceptions. In the N05 field in the North Sea, for example, our participation amounts to 25%, as the field is located partly in Dutch territory and partly in German territory.”
Navigating a dynamic market
The development and implementation process moved quickly and, according to Bomhof, followed “a steep learning curve, supported by extensive knowledge and expertise, ultimately resulting in a highly professional operation”.
The organisation invested considerable effort and commitment, and with success. “Current events demonstrate how volatile gas prices can be. Prices can be tens of percentage points higher one day than the day before, or significantly lower. In that environment, you need to remain calm, while also being able to manoeuvre and adapt if circumstances change. You need to identify risks, explain them clearly and be prepared to take them when necessary.”
An expanding role in gas storage
In addition to its gas marketing activities, EBN also took on additional responsibilities in 2025. The company contributed to filling the Peak Gas Installation Alkmaar (PGI) and helped execute additional filling assignments for the Norg and Grijpskerk gas storage facilities during the autumn.
“For these two storage facilities, we filled 7.4 TWh on behalf of the Ministry. This helped move the Netherlands significantly closer to both Dutch and European filling targets. The past winter demonstrated why these efforts were important.”
For the filling season that started on 1 April, EBN has been assigned a substantially larger role in filling PGI Alkmaar, Bergermeer, Norg and potentially Grijpskerk. “This represents a tripling of our current operation. We have organised ourselves accordingly. Because these assignments are currently awarded for only one year at a time, we ensure that everything is fit for purpose. As a result, some colleagues effectively combine two functions within a single role.”
Concluding, Bomhof says:
“As a public company, we carry out our trading activities with a strong awareness of market dynamics. Alongside security of supply, affordability remains a key public value, particularly under circumstances such as those we face today.”
