The UK government has approved the delayed Jackdaw gas development in the North Sea, opening the way for operator Adura to begin production as early as the end of October, Splash 247 reported. The £2.1bn ($2.8bn) project has much of its offshore infrastructure in place, and the operator said first gas could follow within weeks of the decision.
The North Sea Transition Authority issued new development consent after energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh accepted that the field could advance under revised environmental assessment requirements. Adura, the UK upstream joint venture of Shell and Equinor, had been able to continue construction while the application was reconsidered, but could not start production without renewed approval.
Jackdaw lies roughly 225 km east of Aberdeen and is a high-pressure, high-temperature gas-condensate field. Peak production is expected to reach about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. According to the operator’s estimate cited by Splash 247, its peak gas supply would be sufficient to heat the equivalent of 1.4m UK homes. The development will use existing offshore infrastructure, a feature the regulator cited in discussing both domestic supply and environmental performance.
The fresh consent addresses the consequences of a 2025 court ruling, which left the original approval granted in 2022 ineffective because the environmental assessment had insufficiently considered emissions arising from use of the gas. The replacement review examined those downstream emissions alongside the development’s other environmental effects.
Government estimates put Jackdaw’s potential contribution at around 6% of UK domestic gas output at peak, with production lasting up to 11 years and an economic contribution of £2.9bn. Ministers also expect it to protect 273 existing jobs and add 27. Shell viewed the approval as an improvement in regulatory certainty, while climate campaigners argued it conflicted with UK emissions objectives. Adura has also called for a similar assessment of the outstanding consent application for Rosebank, another North Sea project affected by the same legal dispute.