UK to give go-ahead to Jackdaw North Sea gas field

The British government will give the go-ahead to the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea on Wednesday, 21 Oct. 2026.

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and Chancellor John Healey will announce the decision from Aberdeen on Wednesday morning. The Guardian

Jackdaw, operated by Shell and the Norwegian company Equinor, is one of the biggest undeveloped gas fields in the North Sea basin not yet under production. When fully operational, it is expected to account for 6% of North Sea gas production.

The field was first approved by the Conservative government in 2022. A court later ruled that environmental approval for Jackdaw and the Rosebank oil field had been incorrectly granted because regulators should have considered emissions from burning the produced oil and gas, meaning the pollution released when the fuel is ultimately used. Shell and Equinor resubmitted their application for environmental consent, the formal permission required before development, in September 2025.

Labour came to power in 2024 on a promise not to grant any new licences in the North Sea, the rights to explore for and extract oil and gas. The decision now sits with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, successor to Keir Starmer, and Fahnbulleh, successor to Ed Miliband as energy secretary. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged the U.K. to "open up the North Sea."

In September 2026, ministers were also considering approval for the Rosebank oil field alongside Jackdaw, before a decision on Jackdaw was delayed until later that autumn. One assessment put direct full-time jobs from Jackdaw at 27, while another said the field would displace only 2% of the U.K.'s current imports of gas. The Guardian The Guardian

Environmentalists had threatened legal action over the original 2022 permit for Shell to develop the field.