UK government expected to announce Jackdaw position

The UK government is expected to announce its position on the Jackdaw gas field on Wednesday, October 21, with ministers widely reported to be leaning toward allowing the project to advance. The announcement has not yet been confirmed, and the North Sea Transition Authority would still need to decide whether to grant development consent. Jackdaw, a gas project off the coast of Aberdeen, was approved by the previous Conservative government. That approval was later quashed after a legal challenge over an environmental assessment that did not account for emissions from burning the extracted gas, according to accounts of the court ruling. Extraction remains barred pending a new regulatory decision. The expected ministerial position would be a step in the approval process, not final permission to develop the field. One report, citing unnamed sources, said Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh had decided not to block the project. The government had said in a September 2025 parliamentary response that Jackdaw remained in the regulatory process and had not provided a decision date. The dispute comes amid debate over Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledge not to issue new North Sea oil and gas...