Energy experts have urged the UK Government to approve a major North Sea gas field as uncertainty over energy supplies continues amid the crisis in the Middle East.
Reports suggest that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is minded to approve the Jackdaw project, but a source close to him has said that is not the case.
A decision is still awaited on the project, which was halted by a Supreme Court ruling in 2024 that emissions created by burning fossil fuels should be considered when granting planning permission for new drilling sites.
A challenge brought by environmental campaigners in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, over approval for the Rosebank oil field north west of Shetland and the Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen, was upheld at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in January last year.
Projects were able to reapply for consent after the Government published new environmental guidance last summer, and the Jackdaw project is currently being assessed by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (Opred) after further information was submitted.
It is understood the Opred has requested further details.
A source close to the Energy Secretary said it is not the case that he is minded a particular way on the decision as he does not currently have the full information.
Information submitted on behalf of the project said that at peak production Jackdaw is expected to contribute around 6.5% of UK Continental Shelf gas production, which would produce enough energy to heat more than 1.4 million homes.
Lord John Browne, former chief executive of BP, said the Jackdaw field should “absolutely” be approved.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We need all forms of energy, and we need to make sure that we have a diversified source. We don’t have enough diversification today to take care of crises in the future.
“The question of the North Sea, there are a couple of fields which are partly developed. They should be fully developed and go ahead.”
Asked whether Jackdaw and Rosebank should be given the green light immediately, he said: “Absolutely, because they’re investments which have been partly made. And I think stopping investments halfway through is not a good sign to the market to have confidence in the investment environment in a country.”
Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), trade association for the UK’s offshore energy industry, welcomed a commitment earlier this month by the UK Government and key partners to stabilise energy markets and increase output in certain producing nations amid the crisis in the Middle East.
OEUK energy policy director Enrique Cornejo said: ““As the second largest oil and gas producer in Europe, this should include the UK which must play its part in boosting the supply of energy – bringing forward the Oil and Gas Price Mechanism to increase investment, approving key projects such as Jackdaw and Rosebank, and continuing to expand offshore wind production.”
David Whitehouse, chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, said: “This is not an either renewables or oil and gas scenario.
“We urgently need greater supplies of secure, domestically produced energy including oil and gas, which will remain a critical part of the UK energy system and economy for decades.”
A UK Government spokesman said: “We cannot comment on live planning decisions, and these decisions will be made in an appropriate and timely manner, after the last government’s plans were found to be unlawful.”
North of the border, Scotland’s First Minister has softened his Government’s position on domestic oil and gas drilling as energy prices soar amid the crisis in the Middle East.
SNP-led governments in recent years have been cautious about further drilling in the North Sea, despite pressure from the industry and opposition parties.
However, speaking at a live recording of the Holyrood Sources podcast on Thursday, John Swinney appeared to change his stance following the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.
He said: “I can’t give you a definitive answer on Jackdaw and Rosebank, because the climate compatibility assessment has got to be undertaken…
“What I’m saying to you is I think we’ve got to look at the geo-political situation that we now face and recognise that we are experiencing much greater risk to our energy security as a consequence of what’s happening there.”
Speaking in Edinburgh, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “We have always got to keep our obligations to the climate emergency in mind.
“But if you’re making an assessment on the oil and gas that we still need in Scotland, it does make more sense I think to extract it from the North Sea, which doesn’t have the additional emissions of importing it from other countries.”
Patrick Harvie, Scottish Greens candidate for Glasgow, said: “Scotland has a huge wealth of clean, cheap, green, renewable energy sources on our doorstep.
“We do not need to drain the North Sea of fossil fuels, or keep pumping climate-wrecking pollution into the atmosphere.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said a “balanced approach” is needed on the issue of energy.
He told the Press Association: “We have to demonstrate in this country that you can have more jobs, more builds, great energy security and meet our climate change obligations at the same time.
“That means taking a balanced approach. It means supporting oil and gas, which has a role to play for decades to come, it means investing in the huge renewables potential of our great country, but it also means ending the ideological block to clean nuclear energy that currently exists in Scotland to unlock billions of pounds of investment, thousands of new jobs and greater energy security.”
Philip Evans, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Jackdaw, and any new drilling in the North Sea, will produce millions of tonnes of CO2 and vast methane leaks, accelerating climate change and increasing the costs we all pay for extreme weather.
“This is the hard truth that fossil fuel promoters want us to ignore – our fossil fuels are provided by a volatile global market which we cannot control and is regularly upturned by reckless wars and blockades.
“The little that is left in the North Sea is completely inadequate to provide an escape route from that doom loop, something those calling for more drilling have no intention of attempting.
“The only path to real security is to leave fossil fuels behind as quickly as possible.”