ScottishNews.com

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh will announce the decision in Aberdeen on 21 October following a fresh assessment of the project’s environmental impact. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has so far declined to comment on reports that approval will be granted.

Jackdaw lies around 150 miles east of Aberdeen in the Central North Sea and is operated by Adura, the joint venture combining the UK offshore interests of Shell and Norwegian energy giant Equinor.

The project is already at an advanced stage, with much of the offshore infrastructure installed. Its developers have said it could begin supplying gas to the UK within months once the final regulatory hurdle is cleared.

At peak production, Jackdaw is expected to provide around 6% of UK domestic gas production, although campaigners point out that this represents a much smaller proportion of the country’s overall gas consumption once imports are taken into account.

The decision will be politically significant after Jackdaw’s previous approval was overturned following a successful legal challenge by environmental groups.

The field was originally given consent by the Conservative UK Government in 2022.

In January 2025, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that the approval was unlawful because the environmental assessment had failed to properly consider the emissions that would be produced when gas from Jackdaw was ultimately burned.

Lord Ericht ordered the consent to be quashed and reconsidered, although construction work was allowed to continue. No gas could be extracted until a fresh lawful decision had been made.

The ruling followed a landmark Supreme Court judgment establishing that so-called downstream or Scope 3 emissions from the eventual use of fossil fuels had to be considered as part of environmental assessments.

Adura subsequently submitted additional environmental information and a fresh public consultation on Jackdaw concluded in August.

The company argues the development can strengthen UK energy security while producing gas with lower associated production emissions than imported liquefied natural gas.

Adura has also said Jackdaw and the separate Rosebank development west of Shetland together represent anticipated investment of £10.8 billion, with more than three-quarters expected to be spent in the UK. The company says the two projects could support thousands of jobs during construction and generate billions of pounds in economic activity and tax revenues.

Environmental campaigners strongly oppose the development.

Greenpeace and Uplift, which challenged the earlier approvals in court, argue that opening additional oil and gas fields is incompatible with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and will make little difference to household energy bills.

Greenpeace has also challenged claims about the employment impact of Jackdaw, arguing that much of the workforce involved is already employed on existing North Sea infrastructure.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said his government will take a “pragmatic approach” to the North Sea amid pressure from the energy industry, unions and politicians in the north-east of Scotland to provide greater certainty over future investment.

Approval would not involve issuing a new North Sea exploration licence. Jackdaw already holds the necessary licence, meaning ministers argue a decision to allow production would not breach Labour’s commitment not to issue licences for new oil and gas exploration.

Attention will now turn to the much larger Rosebank oil and gas development west of Shetland.

Ms Fahnbulleh said last week that the Jackdaw decision was “imminent”, but indicated a decision on Rosebank would take “a bit longer”.

Rosebank was also caught by the January 2025 Court of Session ruling and requires fresh approval before oil and gas can be extracted.