Andy Burnham has approved plans to begin drilling in the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. The decision, announced by Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, follows months of speculation.
Government cites energy security
The Government argued that the move will support the UK's energy security with homegrown gas this winter and minimise the use of imported fuels that have been produced with a higher environmental impact.
The untapped gas field, which lies about 150 miles east of Aberdeen and is operated by the joint Shell-Equinor venture Adura, will begin to supply gas to the UK grid by the end of the month.
Political reactions
The decision comes at a time when major supply disruptions driven by conflict in the Middle East are causing global fossil fuel prices to skyrocket. But the Conservatives hit out at Labour for failing to give the green light sooner.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: "Finally. Labour spent two years faffing about to make a decision which Conservatives had already approved two years ago. If they’d done this in the summer we’d have had that gas heating British homes this Christmas."
"An unnecessary waste of time and money by a party that puts its own interest above the country’s."
Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice added that it was a "welcome, albeit painfully overdue, admission of reality".
He said: "For years, Reform UK has stood alone in pointing out the sheer economic vandalism of shutting down our own energy sector while begging dictatorships abroad to keep the lights on."
"The Government must now follow our lead again by urgently approving the Rosebank oil field and maximise our North Sea treasure."
Climate campaigners condemn
But climate campaigners condemned the decision, with Greenpeace's Ami McCarthy saying: "What Jackdaw is guaranteed to do is generate record profits for Shell and Equinor while supercharging the climate chaos hitting families here and abroad."
"True pragmatism means severing our reliance on expensive oil and gas that leaves British households broke, supercharges extreme weather, and leaves our energy security at the mercy of petrostates."
The Government is still weighing up the decision to approve drilling at the much bigger Rosebank, Britain’s largest remaining untapped oil field, located about 80 miles north-west of the Shetland Islands.
