The UK government will approve the Jackdaw gasfield on Wednesday, according to The Guardian, clearing the way for drilling at one of the largest undeveloped sites in the North Sea. Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and chancellor John Healey are expected to make the announcement in Aberdeen on Wednesday morning, the paper reports, following more than a year of deliberation over whether the move would breach the UK's climate commitments.
The decision is a significant boost for the oil and gas industry and particularly for Shell and Norway's Equinor, which operate the field. It is likely to draw strong criticism from climate campaigners, who argue it damages Labour's environmental record.
Why it matters
Jackdaw's status has become a symbol of the government's stance toward the declining North Sea basin, where reserves are shrinking and platforms are increasingly automated, with heavy job losses in the sector. Once fully operational, the field is expected to account for 6% of North Sea gas production, according to The Guardian, making it one of the biggest gasfields not yet in production.
The approval also carries political weight. Labour came to power in 2024 promising not to issue new North Sea licences, and did not expect to have to rule on Jackdaw or Rosebank. The government is expected to argue that granting environmental approval does not break that manifesto pledge because it is not a new licence. The Guardian reports that Fahnbulleh decided not to block the field, leaving the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates the industry, to give the go-ahead on financial and logistical grounds. She will appear alongside Healey and NSTA chief executive Stuart Payne for the announcement.
How the decision was reached
The field was originally approved by the Conservative government in 2022, with ministers saying it would help protect the UK from energy market volatility following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Both Jackdaw and the larger Rosebank field were then thrown into doubt last year by a landmark court ruling, which found their environmental approvals had been granted incorrectly. The judge held that regulators should have considered emissions from burning the oil and gas the fields would produce when assessing whether they conflicted with the UK's climate targets.
Shell and Equinor resubmitted their application for environmental consent last September. Since then, Fahnbulleh and her predecessor, Ed Miliband, have spent months weighing whether to use ministerial powers to stop it, The Guardian reports.
The prime minister and his predecessor, Keir Starmer, have faced sustained pressure to let the fields proceed, including from Donald Trump, who publicly urged both men to "open up the North Sea." Burnham appeared sympathetic to that argument earlier this summer, promising a "pragmatic approach" and saying in July that "there is a resource there" and that it could not be ignored while people were struggling. He told the Commons last week that decisions would be set out shortly.
A split within Labour
The announcement may strengthen Labour's position in north-east Scotland, where much of the industry is based and where unions have campaigned hard for the permits. But it is likely to cause friction among Labour MPs, particularly those facing challenges from the Green party.
The Guardian cites a Savanta poll for the climate group E3G finding that nearly a third of voters said they would be less likely to back Labour if it approved more North Sea drilling. That figure includes roughly a third of people who voted Labour at the last election and about half of 18- to 24-year-olds.
Ellie Mae O'Hagan, UK energy programme lead at E3G, said the public had made up its mind after a summer of deadly heatwaves and argued that more drilling was the wrong answer. She urged the prime minister to invest in heat pumps and solar rather than offer tax breaks to oil and gas companies.
Climate campaigners have also framed the decision as a test of Labour's credibility. One campaigner quoted by The Guardian said no new oil and gasfields were compatible with safe climate limits, adding that "Labour's climate credibility is on the line."
Rosebank remains the bigger question
Officials say the more sensitive decision is likely to be Rosebank, which The Guardian reports would produce around seven times the CO2 emissions of Jackdaw, with most of its oil destined for export. Fahnbulleh is understood not to have made a final call on that field. Energy department officials are reportedly examining ways that tax revenue from the project could be directed toward green schemes if it were approved. A decision is expected later this year.
Campaigners have already signalled where they will focus next. One said the defining test was Rosebank and called on Burnham to prioritise affordable bills, industrial growth and a safe climate over oil profits by rejecting it.
The coming months will show whether the government applies the same reasoning to Rosebank that it has used for Jackdaw, and how Labour's MPs and green-leaning voters respond.
