Adura urges UK approval of Jackdaw to avert gas shortages

Britain’s offshore regulator opened a public consultation on Jackdaw, the North Sea gas field that could begin meeting about 6% of UK gas needs from 1 October. Representations to the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning must be filed by 10 August 2026 under reference D/4260/2021, as the project moves through a revised approval process before production can start.

Adura chief executive Neil McCulloch says delaying Jackdaw would leave the UK more exposed to winter supply pressures. The field sits about 150 miles, or roughly 250 kilometres, east of Aberdeen. Adura says it could provide enough gas to heat the equivalent of 1.4 million homes, and Jackdaw and Rosebank, its other advanced North Sea project, could together account for as much as 10% of UK natural gas output.

Adura says more than £3 billion has already been invested across Jackdaw and Rosebank, and that the two projects could generate peak annual tax revenue of more than £720 million. It says development would support 3,500 jobs at peak construction, 880 jobs during production and 125 apprenticeships. Offshore Energies UK has separately called for urgent decisions on Jackdaw and Rosebank, saying they are important for national security.

Jackdaw first received environmental consent in 2022 under the previous Conservative government, but a court later ruled the earlier approvals for Jackdaw and Rosebank were unlawful, forcing revised applications. Adura says its updated environmental assessment found Jackdaw would account for just 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that the project is among the North Sea developments expected to have relatively low operational emissions.

Adura says oil and gas still supply around 75% of the UK’s energy needs and says, without Jackdaw and Rosebank, the country would have to import an equivalent volume from international markets that carry higher geopolitical risk and, on average, higher carbon intensity.