The owners of the Jackdaw gas platform in the North Sea say it is “hyper critical” that the UK government approves production to avoid the risk of domestic supply shortages this winter. Speaking to BBC News at the field 150 miles east of Aberdeen, Adura chief executive Neil McCulloch said the project was in its final stages and could meet 6% of the UK’s gas from 1 October.
The industry regulator is considering revised applications for production at Jackdaw, and Adura’s Rosebank oil field west of Shetland, after a court ruled that both had been unlawfully approved. Environmental campaigners say this summer’s deadly and record-breaking heatwaves demonstrate the need to tackle climate change by rejecting both projects. But McCulloch said with only about eight days of gas storage, the UK would have limited options in the event of “a gas supply emergency” – which he said could come in the form of a prolonged period of still, cloudy weather that impeded wind and solar power, or hostility from “foreign threat actors”.
“Adura chief executive warns UK government must approve Jackdaw gas field to avoid winter shortages.”
BBC News has been given exclusive access to Jackdaw, which is undergoing final checks and tests to be ready for production in the event of government approval. The “business-as-usual” atmosphere is somewhat surreal given the uncertainty hanging over the project, which has so far cost around £1.5bn according to Aberdeen-based Adura, a joint venture between Shell and the Norwegian state energy firm Equinor.
McCulloch said: “If I were the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, I’d be looking closely at where’s my next source of energy security, and you’re standing on it. The wells are drilled, they’re hooked up. We’re just readying the systems. It will be ready for the 1st of October. Jackdaw will play a vital part of this winter’s gas supply,” he added, providing energy security, employment and taxation to the UK.
Environmentalists say though Jackdaw will produce 6% of the country’s annual gas supply during the lifetime of the field, it will only reduce import dependency by 2%. “It would be a huge betrayal of the British public for the UK government to approve new oil and gas fields at a time when ordinary people are suffering so much as a result of these record-breaking heatwaves,” said Tessa Khan, executive director of the campaign group Uplift.