The go-ahead will be announced in Aberdeen on Wednesday morning by Fahnbulleh and the North Sea Transition Authority’s chief executive Stuart Payne, and the government will argue that granting environmental approval does not break Labour’s manifesto commitment because Jackdaw is not a new licence. The field was first approved in 2022, but a judge ruled last year that its environmental approval had been incorrectly granted because regulators had not counted the emissions from burning the gas it will produce, and Shell and Equinor resubmitted their application last September. No decision has been taken on the larger Rosebank field, which is expected later this year and would produce about seven times Jackdaw’s carbon dioxide emissions, while the campaign group Uplift said Jackdaw has been oversold and would meet only about 2 percent of UK gas demand for roughly a decade.
Jackdaw gas field to get go-ahead on Wednesday
The UK government will give the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea the go-ahead on Wednesday, after Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh decided not to use ministerial power to block the Shell and Equinor field, the Guardian reported.
Why it matters: Jackdaw would account for about 6 percent of North Sea gas production when fully operational, and the decision tests Labour's pledge against new licences on a field whose environmental approval a court already found was incorrectly granted, with the larger Rosebank decision still to come this year.
Data as of The Guardian, October 20, 2026, read in full. The decision rests on multiple unnamed sources speaking to the Guardian and had not been announced by the government at the time of writing; the formal announcement is expected in Aberdeen on Wednesday. Single source. Developing item.
Sources
- Jackdaw North Sea gasfield to get go-ahead in blow to climate campaigners - The Guardian - 2026-10-20