The UK Government is set to approve a major North Sea gas field as ministers face pressure over soaring energy costs amid the Iran war, according to reports.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is set to give the green light to the Jackdaw gas field, 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, The Times reports.
It comes as the SNP appeared to signal a shift in their position on North Sea production, with First Minister John Swinney saying the conflict in the Middle East and questions of energy security “changes the balance of the arguments”.
If approved, Jackdaw would be the first major North Sea oil and gas field project in almost 10 years, and would account for around 6% of the UK’s projected gas production.
The project has been awaiting Miliband’s approval since Shell, which owns the field, was forced to conduct a fresh environmental impact assessment following a successful legal challenge by Greenpeace.
In 2024, the High Court ruled that a previous licence was invalid because it had not taken into account the carbon emissions generated from burning the gas it produced.
The National previously told how the highest scenario could see Jackdaw produce the equivalent of 35.8m tonnes of carbon. Scotland’s total emissions in 2023 were 39.6m tonnes of carbon.
Shell has said that the most likely levels of production would generate around 23.6m tonnes.
The project is being assessed under the new criteria by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning before Miliband makes a final decision, which is not expected before next month’s Holyrood elections.
Whitehall sources told the Times that Miliband was minded to approve the field because he did not consider it to be incompatible with the Labour Government’s carbon reduction commitments.
However, he is said to still be opposed to the Rosebank field, which predominantly contains oil reserves. In opposition, Miliband said that allowing Rosebank to go ahead would be an act of “climate vandalism”.
A UK Government spokesperson told the Times that no decision on either project has been made, although the paper reports that he is under “intense political pressure” to greenlight both fields amid growing concerns over the UK’s energy security amid the war in the Middle East, which is causing the price of oil to surge.
North of the Border, the First Minister has softened his Government’s position on domestic oil and gas drilling as energy prices soar amid the crisis in the Middle East.
While previous SNP-led governments have been cautious about further drilling in the North Sea, Swinney appears to have changed his stance following the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, which around one fifth of the world’s oil passes through.
Speaking at a live recording of the Holyrood Sources podcast earlier this week, Swinney said: “There’s been much greater uncertainty about energy security as a result of what I would consider to be an illegal intervention in Iran and all the chaos that’s been created as a consequence.
“So I think the dynamics of that chance as a consequence.”
The First Minister added: “I can’t give you a definitive answer on Jackdaw and Rosebank, because the climate compatibility assessment has got to be undertaken.
“What I’m saying to you is I think we’ve got to look at the geo-political situation that we now face and recognise that we are experiencing much greater risk to our energy security as a consequence of what’s happening there.”
However, Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, an organisation which campaigns against further drilling in the North Sea, said Jackdaw would have “zero impact on our energy bills and do precious little to increase gas supply”.“Even in the most optimistic scenario, and assuming none of its gas is exported, Jackdaw would provide just 2% of UK gas demand over its 9 to 12-year lifetime.
“The Rosebank oilfield would do even less. The reality is that, after 50 years of drilling, the UK has already burnt most of its gas. We need this government to learn the lesson of the last five years, and to be urgently thinking about mass solar power, heat pump and insulation programmes to free us from our dependency on gas.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Greens net zero spokesperson Patrick Harvie said approving Jackdaw would be “devastating for our climate while doing nothing to lower household bills”.
“If new drilling is approved in Jackdaw, Rosebank or any other fields it will be a betrayal of future generations and shred what is left of Labour’s climate credentials,” he said.
“It is also deeply disappointing to see the Scottish Government continuing to weaken its position even further when they know what the science says and the damage that the climate emergency will do to all our lives.”
Harvie said that “the bottom line is that we can’t keep burning fossil fuels at such a terrible cost to people and planet”.
He continued: “Scotland has a huge wealth of clean, cheap, green, renewable energy sources on our doorstep. We do not need to drain the north sea of fossil fuels, or keep pumping climate-wrecking pollution into the atmosphere.”
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