Jackdaw gasfield would create just 27 direct jobs
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- Adura's environmental impact assessment for the Jackdaw gasfield states it would create just 27 direct full-time jobs, with the platform unstaffed for most of its operating life and most construction already completed in Norway
- Greenpeace, which uncovered the 27-jobs figure, says the developer's own documents contradict fossil fuel industry claims that new drilling is vital for UK employment
- Adura disputes the framing, claiming Jackdaw and Rosebank combined would support 3,500 peak construction jobs, 880 sustained jobs, £28bn in gross value added, and £1.4bn in immediate tax revenues
- Uplift argues Rosebank's tax reliefs are so generous the British public would carry nearly all development costs, and that new drilling will not lower consumer energy bills
- Rosebank would emit CO2 equivalent to roughly 70% of the UK's annual emissions over its lifetime, per Uplift executive director Tessa Khan, who noted its oil is 'overwhelmingly for export'
- Labour's manifesto pledge to issue no new oil and gas licences contains a loophole both fields fall under because they were already in the licensing system at the last election
- Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director, told the Guardian opening the fields would do little for UK energy security; the Jackdaw consultation closes 8 August
Why it matters: The developer's own documents undercut the central lobbying argument for new North Sea drilling — 27 direct Jackdaw jobs versus industry-promoted figures of thousands. With consultation closing 8 August and Andy Burnham taking office, the gap between lobbying claims and documented impact now sits at the center of whether Labour approves Rosebank, whose projected emissions equal 70% of UK annual output.
