By John Donovan

Historically Exxon have kept very quiet about their involvement in the Dutch company Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) which operates the Groningen (Slochteren) natural gas field in The Netherlands. 

The average Dutchman thinks that NAM is a government entity rather than a 50/50 joint venture between the two oil giants Royal Dutch Shell Plc and ExxonMobil Corp. So the comments of Exxon Chief Executive Rex Tillerson reported in a Bloomberg article today, suggest there may be significant changes underway in the operation of NAM. 

We understand from an insider source that of the 2000-3000 people who work at NAM, only a very small number are currently Exxon employees. Perhaps that is all about to change.