Oranje-Nassau Energie is investing some €50 million in an installation on the Maasvlakte to extract gas from the North Sea. Trial drilling last year already cost close to 20 million, but was successful. The field extends about three kilometres from the coast and is two kilometres deep up to the Maasgeul. The amount of gas that can be extracted is estimated at 820 million cubic metres, the equivalent of 4.5 million barrels of crude oil and the gas consumption of a city with a population of 150,000 for eight years.