UK has yet to rule on Jackdaw gas field. Past rulings took weeks or many months.
The public consultation on the Jackdaw gas field closed on 10 August. The government has still not signed the decision letter.
What happened
Michael Marra, elected leader of Scottish Labour on , said in one of his first acts that he would urge the prime minister to approve the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
Jackdaw’s public consultation closed on , and the government has still not signed its decision. The project page for the field records a fourth round of public notice on the developer’s further information. It opened on and closed on . The page still says “Under Review”, and it was last updated on .
Rosebank is one week behind Jackdaw. Its own round opened on and closed on , and it is also still under review. Nothing more is being asked of the companies. What is missing is a signature.
On Michael Marra won the Scottish Labour leadership with nearly two thirds of the members’ votes. Within hours he told reporters: “It’s the biggest issue in my region in terms of people’s voting intention.” The same day Sky News reported the Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey saying the Jackdaw field “makes sense” while it waits for the government’s decision.
These fields have waited before. Adura, the developer, answered the last request for information on , the fourth such request since 2021. The Cambo field’s consultation closed on , and it has been under review for 154 days with no request and no decision.
The next fixed date in the government’s own calendar is the Budget on , which John Healey confirmed on . That will be day 79 for Jackdaw since its consultation closed.
Sources: Guardian, GOV.UK (2, 3, 4), Sky News
The Pattern
Seven offshore oil and gas fields have a signed decision on record. For each, we counted the days from the end of public consultation to the signed decision letter, using the project pages on gov.uk. Jackdaw’s own earlier rounds are left out. Two came within 79 days, and the other five took 265 days or more. The same government department decided every case, and two letters, Murlach and Affleck, were signed on the same day.
Show the other 5 cases
The Read
History gives no clear answer for . Past decisions came either fast or very late. Two fields got a signed letter within 53 days, and the other five waited 265 days or more, with nothing in between. The Budget on falls in that gap, and so do November and December. Both fast cases were rounds on further information, like this one. Jackdaw reaches day 53 on .
What makes a decision more likely is the present. Nothing more is being asked of the developer. The last request went out in March and was answered in June, the consultation closed in August, and the page has said Under Review since then. The Guardian reports a growing expectation that ministers will approve Jackdaw within weeks. In two days the new leader of Scottish Labour and the leader of the Liberal Democrats have both said in public that it should be approved.
Two cases point the other way. Rosebank’s round of got a fresh request for information after 127 days instead of an answer, and Cambo has now been under review for 154 days. They are the reason the estimate stays well under half. A signed Jackdaw letter before the Budget would settle the question.
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