Less than two percent of the abandoned wells in the Dutch part of the North Sea are leaking methane originating from shallow gas accumulations. That conclusion was reached by researchers from NIOZ and TNO, in collaboration with the Dutch State Supervision of Mines, SodM, published in Marine and Petroleum Geology. The outcome of this study alleviates concerns from earlier German research that concluded that one-third of all wells would leak methane from shallow gas accumulations.