Sunday, April 05, 2026
The North Sea myth
The paper says that the Jackdaw field, one of the largest unexploited gasfields in the North Sea, would displace only 2% of the UK’s current imports of gas, which would leave the UK still almost entirely dependent on supplies from Norway and a few other sources. They add that the Rosebank field, also in Scottish waters but mainly containing oil, would displace only about 1% of the UK’s gas imports:
Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, the campaign group, which compiled the data from public sources, said: “New fields like Jackdaw and Rosebank would do vanishingly little to boost UK gas production. Even in the most optimistic scenario, and assuming none of its gas is exported, Jackdaw would provide just 2% of UK demand over its nine- to 12-year lifetime.”
It has already been shown, by authorities including the UK Energy Research Centre, that new drilling would not reduce oil and gas prices, or improve the UK’s energy security. It is also unlikely to produce durable jobs or major new tax revenues, as 90% of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas has already been burned, putting the industry in steep and irrecoverable decline. Companies are also demanding tax breaks to tap the new fields, which are harder to access than existing supplies.
But Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, is under pressure from the fossil fuel industry, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, some trade unions and the Conservatives to give a green light to Jackdaw and Rosebank, which are not covered by the ban on new licences for North Sea drilling because their applications were already in the system when Labour took office.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the exchequer, has previously spoken in favour of drilling, though at the recent G7 energy meeting she emphasised renewable power as the solution to recurrent oil crises.
Miliband has not yet made a decision on either field, the Guardian understands, and is still mulling the potential impacts. The UK is likely to be among about 50 countries represented at a major climate conference later this month in Colombia, at which governments will make a start on plans to phase out fossil fuels.
The owner of the Jackdaw field, Adura Energy, has been asked by the North Sea regulator to respond to new questions related to the licence application, including on greenhouse gas emissions. That process could take weeks, if not longer, meaning no imminent decision is likely.
Any decision on the Rosebank field could be taken separately from that on Jackdaw. Khan said: “Rosebank is oil for profit, not our security. Its reserves – which, if burned, would see the UK breach its climate commitments – are predominantly oil for export. It has the potential to reduce the UK’s annual gas import dependency by just 1% on average.”
Philip Evans, a senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Our fossil fuels are provided by a volatile global market which we cannot control, and is regularly upturned by reckless wars and blockades. The only path to real security is to leave fossil fuels behind as quickly as possible.”
Farage and Badenoch are pushing this agenda pretty hard as the solution to the energy crisis, however all the research shows that this is a myth. We need to build energy capacity so we are self efficient but this is not the way.
