ENERGY Secretary Ed Miliband is poised to approve development of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea – but not the Rosebank oil field, according to reports.
Miliband is said to be minded to green-light the Jackdaw project in a bid to prove himself capable of making the tough decisions that would be required as chancellor and supplement UK gas supply, the Observer reported. It follows similar reports elsewhere in April.
However, the Rosebank development, which would take longer to come online so could not immediately help UK energy demands, may not be approved. In opposition, Miliband claimed approving Rosebank would be “climate vandalism”.
The Energy Secretary is reportedly angling for a promotion to the head of the UK Treasury under a government led by Andy Burnham, who is expected to remove the deeply unpopular Rachel Reeves from No 11 once he becomes prime minister later in July.
If Miliband is moved to the chancellor role, the decision on Jackdaw would ultimately fall to his successor as Energy Secretary.
The Jackdaw and Rosebank projects were approved by the Tories in 2022 and 2023 respectively, and Labour pledged in the 2024 General Election to honour the licences. However, the decisions were overturned in 2025 following a successful legal challenge by environmental campaigners at Greenpeace and Uplift.
The court ruled that the Tory government had not properly taken into account the developments’ downstream emissions when approving them.
Adura, – a joint venture between Shell and Equinor which is behind the proposed Jackdaw field – issued a report last week claiming that it will “not materially influence” greenhouse gas emissions.
The firm’s 159-page report said the development would account for just 0.02% of global greenhouse gas (GHG). “This indicates that the project alone will not materially influence the evolution of future global GHG levels or the impacts attributed to those future GHG levels,” it read.
Tessa Khan, the executive director of Uplift, said the development will “have no impact on our energy bills and do precious little to increase our gas supply”.
“Even in the most optimistic scenario, and assuming none of its gas is exported, it would provide just 2% of UK gas demand over its nine to 12-year lifetime,” she said.
“The reality is, after 50 years of drilling, the UK has now burned most of its gas and a relatively small gas field like Jackdaw will do next to nothing to reduce our dependence on imports.”
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has said it expects to meet demand this winter.
It said: “Our current view is that the electricity system will remain secure and reliable through winter 2026/27.”
It added: “The outlook is positive, but winter conditions can change. NESO will continue to monitor global gas markets, European electricity flows, weather conditions and periods where supply and demand may be more finely balanced, particularly in January.”
