Jackdaw gas field in North Sea set to be approved – reports

The controversial Jackdaw gas field off the coast of Aberdeen is set to be given the go-ahead by the UK Government.

Previously approved by the Conservative government in 2022, Jackdaw was delayed by a Court of Session ruling which said the decision failed to take into account the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels extracted from the site as well as oil from the Rosebank field.

Quoting government and industry sources, the BBC said approval for Jackdaw could come as soon as mid-September, just before parliament breaks for party conference season.

A public consultation on the future of Jackdaw and Rosebank closed in August and the decision now rests with energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.

Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: “Approval of Jackdaw would be a hugely important vote of confidence in the North Sea, protecting jobs, strengthening our energy security and ensuring more of the oil and gas we still need is produced here in the UK.

“But Jackdaw cannot be the end of the story. The same urgency must now be applied to Rosebank, another major project capable of supporting thousands of jobs, billions of pounds of economic activity and significant tax revenues for the Treasury. Together these projects represent 10 per cent of our future gas supply at a point where we face a critical gas shortage.”

But Tessa Khan, executive director of environmental campaign group Uplift, said increased drilling in the North Sea would fail to cut energy bills and would make “no meaningful difference” to UK energy supplies.

She said: “After 50 years of drilling, the UK has now burned most of its gas and the majority of what’s left in the basin is oil, which is largely exported.

“Jackdaw, a relatively small gas field, would – optimistically and assuming none of its gas is exported – provide just two per cent of UK gas demand over its roughly 10-year lifetime.”

She added: “When it comes to these decisions, the prime minister needs listen to scientists’ warnings and think back to those families who lost their homes to this summer’s wildfires, the UK farmers struggling to grow our food in the drought, and the lives lost in the floods in Nepal – and not the self-interested demands of the oil companies.”