The UK government has granted fresh consent for the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, reopening a project that environmental groups forced back to court and clearing the way for gas to reach British homes within weeks. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and the North Sea Transition Authority announced the decision on Tuesday, with ministers telling Parliament that production could begin by the end of October.
Jackdaw sits about 150 miles east of Aberdeen and is operated by Adura, a joint venture owned equally by Shell and Equinor. Gas will be tied back to the existing Shearwater platform and piped ashore to the St Fergus terminal in Aberdeenshire. Adura says peak output could heat the equivalent of roughly 1.4 million homes, or about six percent of UK gas production — a smaller slice once imports are counted.
Why consent had to be retaken
The field was discovered in 2005 but only drew firm investment after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine pushed ministers to fast-track domestic supply. The Conservative government granted production consent that year, yet Scotland’s Court of Session quashed approvals for both Jackdaw and the larger Rosebank field in January 2025. Lord Ericht ruled developers had not adequately assessed climate impacts from burning the fuel, not just emissions from extraction.
Companies were allowed to continue preparatory work while they reworked environmental statements. Labour’s energy team said the new Jackdaw decision weighed full lifecycle greenhouse-gas effects against jobs, tax revenue and security benefits. Treasury and energy officials also unveiled a North Sea energy wealth fund, seeded with £2 billion, that would channel future oil and gas receipts into net-zero projects and efforts to delink electricity prices from volatile gas markets.
Political and climate crossfire
Fahnbulleh told broadcasters the gas would not cut household bills this winter but would displace higher-emission imports during the transition to renewables and nuclear. She insisted the project fits legally binding carbon budgets and the manifesto pledge to end new licensing rounds while managing existing fields through their lives.
Climate campaigners condemned the approval as incompatible with the UK’s 2050 net-zero target. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to go further and lift Labour’s ban on new oil and gas licences altogether. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, speaking for regional Labour voices, said the Conservatives had “messed up” the original consent process while defending the government’s tighter environmental review.
Attention now shifts to Rosebank, the UK’s largest untapped oil field west of Shetland. Officials have signaled Fahnbulleh is leaning against approving Rosebank even as Jackdaw moves ahead, setting up a split decision that will define the government’s North Sea policy for the rest of the parliament.