UK plans to allow development of Jackdaw in the North Sea — The Guardian

The UK government is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will allow the development of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. Energy Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh and Chancellor John Healey will present the decision in Aberdeen after more than a year of discussions over whether the project complies with the country’s climate commitments, The Guardian reports.

Decision on Jackdaw

Jackdaw is one of the largest undeveloped fields in the North Sea basin, where production is declining. It is operated by Shell and the Norwegian company Equinor. Once fully operational, the field will provide 6% of gas production in the North Sea.

The Conservative government approved the project in 2022, saying it would help protect the country from energy-market volatility caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, last year a court ruled that the environmental permit had been issued incorrectly: regulators should have taken into account carbon emissions from burning the oil and gas to be extracted at Jackdaw and another project, Rosebank.

Shell and Equinor resubmitted their application for environmental approval in September last year. According to the publication, Fahnbulleh decided not to block the project, allowing the North Sea Transition Authority, which regulates the industry, to grant approval while taking financial and logistical factors into account.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Criticism from climate activists

The government plans to explain that environmental approval for Jackdaw does not contradict the Labour Party’s election promise not to issue new licences for extraction in the North Sea, as this is not a new licence.

Meanwhile, Tessa Khan, executive director of the Uplift group, said that Jackdaw would provide about 2% of the country’s gas demand for around ten years. According to her, the project will not halt the overall decline in jobs in the industry, as the facility will be largely unmanned and remotely operated.

Fahnbulleh has not yet made a final decision on the larger Rosebank field, The Guardian reports. Energy department officials are considering directing tax revenues from the project toward green initiatives. A decision on Rosebank is expected later this year.