The UK government has approved the controversial Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, a widely expected move that will nonetheless dismay environmental campaigners and a number of Labour MPs.
While Labour’s 2024 election manifesto committed to a ban on new drilling licences in the North Sea, the companies behind Jackdaw and the Rosebank oilfield project, which is being decided on separately, have sought environmental approval for existing licences.
The companies resubmitted their applications for environmental approval earlier this year. The decision on Jackdaw had been expected last month but was delayed, seemingly to take it beyond the Holborn and St Pancras byelection on 8 October, where Labour was defending a seat against a Green challenge and ultimately won.
The Jackdaw field will start supplying gas to homes and businesses from the end of the month, the government said after approving the scheme.
Andy Burnham has said drilling in the Jackdaw gasfield will “protect hundreds of jobs and help keep millions of homes warm this winter”.
“At a time when people are really struggling, it’s right that we look in a responsible way at maximising the existing energy reserves we have in Britain that could help,” the prime minister said. “We’re committed to moving towards renewable energy and reaching net zero by 2050. But even on our ambitious climate path, we’ll still require oil and gas as part of our energy needs for decades to come. That’s why we’re taking a pragmatic approach to the North Sea.”
Announcing the decision, the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said: “Following careful consideration of all relevant factors, I have agreed that the regulator can grant consent for gas to be produced at Jackdaw, which will begin to supply the UK with gas from this winter thanks to the highly skilled and vital North Sea workers.
When asked to clarify how many jobs the gasfield would create, Fahnbulleh said: “It will create 27 jobs. It will secure 273 jobs. But, look, that was not the primary consideration.
“This 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.
“The decision is compatible with our legally binding climate commitments, and we remain resolute in ending new licences for oil and gas and achieving net zero by 2050.”
Fahnbulleh also said the government would launch a new energy wealth fund with a £2bn downpayment to reinvest oil and gas revenues into the climate transition. It hopes this fund will demonstrate that approving new gasfields is not at odds with Britain’s climate commitments.
Environmental campaigners have called for Jackdaw and Rosebank to be abandoned, while Donald Trump has urged Burnham to open them.
Tessa Khan, the executive director of the anti-oil campaign group Uplift, said: “Jackdaw will provide around just 2% of our gas demand for roughly 10 years. It has been oversold and won’t stop the overall decline in North Sea jobs as it will be largely unmanned and operated remotely.”
She added: “Labour’s climate credibility is on the line. No new oil and gasfields are compatible with safe climate limits.”
The oil and gas industry says the fields will provide 10% of the UK’s output at their peak. But campaigners say they will cause so much environmental damage as to obliterate any economic benefit.
Jackdaw is owned and operated by Adura, an independent joint venture half owned by Equinor and half by Shell. Both have licences to operate, but environmental approval was rescinded after a judge ruled that the companies needed to account for the carbon emissions that would be created by burning the oil and gas they produce.
The companies have been lobbying hard for the green light. Adura commissioned a report this week that said rejecting the two projects would cost the UK economy nearly £10.8bn over the next decade.
The Jackdaw announcement could boost Labour’s position in north-east Scotland, where much of the industry is based and where unions have been campaigning heavily for the permits to be granted. But it is likely to cause angst among some Labour MPs, especially those in seats where they face a challenge from the Green party.
A poll by Savanta for the climate group E3G and seen by the Guardian shows that nearly a third of voters say they would be less likely to vote Labour if it gives the go-ahead for more North Sea oil drilling. That includes almost exactly a third of those who voted Labour at the last election, and about half of 18- to 24-year-olds.
Ellie Mae O’Hagan, the UK energy programme lead at E3G, said: “After a summer of deadly heatwaves, the public has made up its mind: more drilling is the wrong answer. If the prime minister wants a decade in power to change the country, he should invest in heat pumps and solar, not tax breaks for the oil and gas companies driving up our bills and polluting the planet.”
The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, called the decision “climate vandalism”. He said: “Today’s decision by Labour is a betrayal of all of our futures, Labour has abandoned all credibility in the fight against climate change.
“The energy secretary has herself said it will make no difference to energy bills, the health secretary has admitted the summer heatwave added to pressure on the NHS and the industry’s own assessment is that will create only 27 jobs. This is a victory for Shell over the people.”
Ami McCarthy, the head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said: “Approving Jackdaw shows the toxic grip fossil fuel lobbyists still hold over our energy policy. Andy Burnham promised pragmatism, but there is nothing pragmatic about rubber-stamping a project that won’t lower energy bills, won’t boost energy security and will create just 27 full-time jobs.
“What Jackdaw is guaranteed to do is generate record profits for Shell and Equinor while supercharging the climate chaos hitting families here and abroad. Going on to approve Rosebank would detonate an even bigger carbon bomb, releasing as much carbon as 56 coal plants operating for a year.
“True pragmatism means severing our reliance on expensive oil and gas that leaves British households broke, supercharges extreme weather and leaves our energy security at the mercy of petrostates.”
