Adura urges urgent Jackdaw approval to avert UK gas shortages
Adura says Jackdaw could cover over 6% of UK gas demand by winter, but the field is still in a fresh consultation due by 10 August.
Adura is pressing for urgent approval of its Jackdaw gas field, arguing the North Sea project could supply more than 6% of UK gas demand by this winter and help heat about 1.4 million homes. The Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning reopened a consultation on the field in July 2026, with representations due by 10 August.
Jackdaw sits about 150 miles, or roughly 250 kilometres, east of Aberdeen and is tied back to the existing Shearwater Hub, using infrastructure already in place to bring gas ashore at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire. Neil McCulloch, Adura’s chief executive, called the project “hyper critical” for energy security, and Adura submitted further information to OPRED on 19 June after being asked to address issues in earlier material. The project is in its final stages of preparation and could begin supplying gas by this winter if approval comes quickly.
The North Sea Transition Authority consented to Jackdaw on 1 June 2022, but Greenpeace launched a legal challenge in 2024. On 30 January 2025, a Scottish court ruled that the consents were no longer valid, although work could continue while the government carried out a consultation on Scope 3 emissions and a fresh consenting process. The current OPRED exercise is part of that revised path.
Adura says Jackdaw and the related Rosebank project have already drawn more than £3 billion of investment, and that the two developments together could support £28.7 billion in gross value added, £1.4 billion in tax revenues before the end of this parliament, 3,500 construction jobs at peak, 880 jobs during production and 125 apprenticeships.
The field would strengthen domestic resilience as older North Sea assets decline, and Adura argues UK production carries lower emissions intensity than imported liquefied natural gas. Climate campaigners counter that projects like Jackdaw would add to greenhouse gas emissions and do little to cut dependence on imports. Jackdaw is one of the largest unexploited gas fields in the North Sea, and the Institute for Government says it was originally expected to start production in 2026.
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