Oil boss confident Shetland’s Rosebank will be approved following Jackdaw go-ahead

The boss of the oil and gas firm that owns the Jackdaw gas field has said he is “very confident” its second North Sea project will be approved.

On Wednesday morning, the UK Government announced Jackdaw, 150 miles east of Aberdeen, had been approved.

The Government is also considering the Rosebank oil field west of Shetland – the second development owned by the Equinor and Shell joint venture Adura.

Asked how confident he is that the Rosebank field will be approved, Adura chief executive Neil McCulloch said: “We’re very confident now.

“We’ve seen a decision made that there is a process that can result in a decision, but it’s a matter for the Secretary of State and her team to examine the two fields separately.

“But we believe we’ve done as good a job in arguing our case with Rosebank as we did with Jackdaw. Obviously, the economic benefits of Rosebank are different.

“It’s a bigger field. It will last longer than Jackdaw, and so I’m sure she’ll take that into account when she makes her decision in terms of the jobs and economic impact for the UK.”

He also said that Jackdaw will be a “significant addition to energy security”.

He said: “It’s about 6% addition to domestic gas flow into the UK.”

Asked how much Jackdaw is expected to generate in tax revenue for the exchequer, Mr McCulloch said: “The figures we published were this Parliament up to 2029, just under £1.5 billion will come from the two fields.

“But by the end of the next Parliament, that will have increased to just under £4 billion.”

He added: “The price is a bit firmer than when we published those numbers, so it could be higher.

“The main recipient of the benefit of high price, with the tax regime that we’ve got and the one that we’re going to get in the future is the UK, and we now know they’re going to use those tax receipts to fund a faster and more impactful energy transition for the UK. So I think it’s great news.”