Photo by Francesco Zivoli
The UK Government has cleared the Jackdaw gas field in the central North Sea to begin production, ending almost two years of legal and political uncertainty. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh agreed that the North Sea Transition Authority could grant consent, and first gas could reach the grid from the end of October. The field, about 150 miles east of Aberdeen, is expected to raise domestic gas production by around 6% at its peak, over a life of up to 11 years.
Fahnbulleh said the decision “will support the country’s energy security with homegrown gas this winter and help minimise the UK’s use of imported higher emission fuels as we continue our transition to renewables and nuclear.” Pressed on jobs, she told the Guardian: “It will create 27 jobs. It will secure 273 jobs. But, look, that was not the primary consideration.”
Alongside the approval, Chancellor John Healey launched a new Energy Wealth Fund, starting with £2 billion. Speaking at the St Fergus gas terminal, he told ITV News that it means “the extra tax revenues that come from North Sea oil and gas can be directed into developing more clean energy projects for the future”.
How Jackdaw got here
Jackdaw, operated by Adura, a 50/50 joint venture between Shell and Equinor, was first approved in 2022. Its consent unravelled after the Supreme Court’s 2024 Finch ruling, which requires environmental assessments for new extraction to account for emissions from burning the oil and gas produced. In January 2025, the Court of Session quashed the Jackdaw and Rosebank consents following a challenge by Greenpeace and Uplift, ruling that the decisions “can be taken again, this time taking into account downstream emissions.” As the Institute for Government explains, development work continued while Shell submitted a new environmental assessment in September 2025.
The government maintains the approval is consistent with Labour’s manifesto pledge to issue no new exploration licences, because Jackdaw was already licensed.
A trade-off the government acknowledges
The government’s own decision document recognises the climate cost. According to the BBC, Fahnbulleh gave “moderate adverse weight” both to the field’s emissions and to the potential impact on the UK’s role as a climate leader, before concluding that the benefits, including energy security, outweighed them. Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics warned that, for countries watching the UK under Andy Burnham, “this will look weak”.
Estimates of Jackdaw’s emissions vary. Wood Mackenzie puts them at 24 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent over a nine-year life, World Oil reports. Its research director for North Sea upstream, Gail Anderson, argued that “Blocking Jackdaw would require the UK to import more emissions-intensive LNG to meet UK gas demand.” Shell’s own estimate, reported by the Press Association, is up to 35.8 million tonnes over ten years, close to Scotland’s total emissions of 39.6 million tonnes in 2023. The BBC’s climate team notes that more than 90% of Jackdaw’s lifetime emissions come from burning the gas, which releases the same carbon wherever it is produced.
Marine concerns
For marine campaigners, the impact goes beyond carbon. Oceanographic reports that the field lies 32km from the Fulmar Marine Protected Area, home to the long-lived ocean quahog clam, while Oceana UK points to spawning grounds for North Sea cod and mackerel in the area. Helen Honstvet, head of campaigns at Oceana UK, said: “The government has undermined UK climate leadership for gas that won’t even lower our bills.” She called for the forthcoming Energy Independence Bill to legislate for a ban on new oil and gas licences.
Bills and energy security
Ministers have been careful about prices. Fahnbulleh told BBC Radio Scotland that Jackdaw gas “won’t lower our energy bills this winter”, Chris Mason reports. Lawyer Sonya Bedford of Spencer West made the same point to Envirotec: “Producing gas in UK waters does not insulate households from internationally traded gas prices.”
The government’s case therefore rests on energy security. At Prime Minister’s Questions, Burnham argued that “the gas would still be needed. It would just be imported from somewhere else if we didn’t use our own reserves.” That case is also contested. Energy minister Michael Shanks told MPs that Jackdaw’s impact on energy security would be “relatively marginal” in the long term, and Robert Gross, director of the UK Energy Research Centre, told BBC Verify: “Since the North Sea is depleting, the contribution to energy security is debatable.” Official forecasts suggest the field could meet around 1.6% of projected national gas demand between 2026 and 2036, a much smaller figure than the 6% boost to domestic production cited by the government.
Industry and political reaction
Industry and unions welcomed the decision. GMB general secretary Gary Smith called it “the right thing for our country”, according to Envirotec. Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said the government “must now move with the same urgency and pragmatism and get Rosebank over the line without further delay.” Angela Hepworth, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: “Today’s decision must now be matched by a renewed drive to deliver our long-standing clean energy ambitions.” reNEWS reports that RenewableUK welcomed the Energy Wealth Fund in principle but is awaiting detail.
In Scotland, First Minister John Swinney said he hoped the announcement “will provide some certainty for the north east after many years of difficulty thanks to UK Government policy.” Days later, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville went further, in what the Herald describes as the closest any Swinney minister has come to backing the project. She said that if producing the gas in Scottish waters is better for the climate than importing it, “then that’s the right decision to be made.” She added that Scotland was getting “no benefit” from the field. The Scottish Greens, who have backed SNP budgets, say the government’s position remains unclear.
At Westminster, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of “faffing about” and called for the ban on new licences to be lifted. Some Labour backbenchers were uneasy: Alex Sobel said Jackdaw “will give mixed messages in terms of investment of both renewables and decarbonisation of home heating.”
The decision also drew praise from Washington. US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly urged the UK to expand North Sea drilling, told reporters: “Andy is getting it done, and I guess it’s against the liberal principle, but he knows what’s right.”
Environmental groups condemned the approval. Ami McCarthy, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Approving Jackdaw shows the toxic grip fossil fuel lobbyists still hold over our energy policy.”
Rosebank, the bigger test
Equinor estimates that Rosebank, the UK’s largest known untapped oil field, west of Shetland, could produce emissions equivalent to 254 million tonnes of carbon over its 25-year life. Fahnbulleh has described it as a “different proposition” because its oil would be exported, and Shanks told MPs it is a “separate consenting decision”. Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, said: “No new oil and gas fields are compatible with safe climate limits, but the defining test is Rosebank.”
Professor John Underhill of the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Energy Transition believes Jackdaw has wider implications: “I think the precedent has been set whereby other gas discoveries already made in active licences could be tied back to infrastructure.” The Institute for Government notes that a further legal challenge to Jackdaw cannot be ruled out. No timescale has been given for the Rosebank decision.