When BBC News visited the platform this summer, Adura CEO Neil McCulloch said its approval was vital to avoid domestic supply shortages this winter.
However, the UK government has previously suggested that Jackdaw will have little impact on energy security and none on reducing domestic gas and electricity bills.
In August, in an interim response to a consultation on the future of the country’s gas supplies, Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the UK would inevitably become more reliant on imports as domestic production declined, external.
“With diminishing output from the North Sea over the past decades, any gas produced from the UK Continental Shelf represents a tiny fraction of global demand and so will not lower prices nor materially boost supply,” wrote Shanks.
Labour has previously said it is opposed to the issuing of new exploration licences but it will consider new production projects if they are tied back to existing facilities.
McCulloch described the Jackdaw decision as “an important and positive step forward” – but said attention now turned to Rosebank.
He has urged the UK government to approve production from the field, in which Adura owns an 80% stake. The other 20% is held by London-based Ithaca Energy.
Rosebank contains an estimated 300 million to 500 million barrels of oil.
But while most of Jackdaw’s gas is likely to be consumed in the UK, Rosebank’s oil will be taken off by tanker and sold on international markets.


