Timmermans’ cabinet chief Samsom to chair natural gas giant Gasunie

4 months ago 19

Diederik Samsom, former right-hand man of Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans, will assume the chairmanship of the supervisory board of Gasunie, the government-owned Dutch gas giant, on 1 July.

Samsom, who comes from Groningen, former site of Europe’s largest gas field, worked for the Dutch Greenpeace subsidiary in the late 1990s before entering politics.

He is best known in Brussels as the right-hand of Commission Vice-President Timmermans during negotiations on the Green Deal, and the “Fit for 55 climate” package. When his boss left town in 2023, he stayed on until early 2024 to conclude the term.

His new job was announced by state-owned Gasunie on 26 June, after his appointment by the Dutch finance minister.

“We are extremely pleased that Diederik Samsom will be joining our Supervisory Board,” said Tim van der Hagen, vice-chair of the board.

Samsom’s “wide-ranging knowledge of both the domestic and the international energy sector” as well as his time in Dutch parliament and the European Commission equipped him to make a “significant contribution” to realising Gasunie’s “strategic ambitions,” van der Hagen added.

The new chair himself said “Gasunie contributes to energy security and achieving the climate goals in the Netherlands and Germany” which “motivated” him to join the board.

Gasunie is expected to play a major role in transporting hydrogen to Germany’s industrial heartland, and storing CO2 underground.

The Porthos Carbon Capture and Storage project co-founded by the utility is considered the first functional CO2 storage project in the EU, eyeing a total CO2 sequestration of 37 million tonnes.

[Edited by Chris Powers]