Jackdaw Gas Field Approved With New Energy Wealth Fund
Ministers have cleared the Jackdaw field in the North Sea, with the regulator granting consent this morning and gas expected to flow from the end of this month. The government simultaneously announced an Energy Wealth Fund, opening with £2bn of North Sea tax revenues. The field creates 27 jobs and safeguards 273.
The scale claims need care because three different figures are circulating on three different denominators. The official release says Jackdaw will raise domestic gas production by about 6% at peak; because Britain produces roughly 42% of the gas it burns, that is nearer 2% of demand, which is the figure campaigners use. Its life is put at up to 11 years. The fund is not a £2bn fund either: £2bn is an opening payment, with future North Sea revenues flowing in over time. Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, said the decision “is compatible with our legally binding climate commitments” and that the government remains “resolute in ending new licences for oil and gas”, but conceded the gas “won’t lower our energy bills this winter”, and on jobs: “It will create 27 jobs. It will secure 273 jobs. But, look, that was not the primary consideration.” Tessa Khan of Uplift called the project “oversold”. The operator is Adura, owned half each by Equinor and Shell. Consent had to be reconsidered because a 2024 Supreme Court ruling requires the emissions from burning extracted fuel to be assessed. Rosebank is still pending.