Shell's Jackdaw gas field given go-ahead by regulators

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Regulators approved the development of a major North Sea gas field.

The Jackdaw field has the potential to produce 6.5% of Britain's gas output.

The UK government wants to boost domestic energy output after Russia invaded Ukraine.

In October, Shell's proposals were rejected on environmental grounds.

The decision was welcomed by the UK Business Minister.

We are also realistic about our energy needs now, but we are also ramping up renewables and nuclear.

We need more gas from British waters to protect energy security.

Shell plans to start production from the field in the second half of the 20th century.

At a time when UK energy security is critically required, the approval came.

The new facility will cost 500 million dollars to develop in the UK.

If a large project in Peterhead secures funding, the Jackdaw field should be able to provide gas to over one million British homes.

The move has been condemned by environmental activists.

The group said it was considering legal action because it believed the approval could be illegal.

Ami McCarthy, a political campaigner for Greenpeace, said that Jackdawproving is a desperate and destructive decision from Johnson's government and proves there is no long-term plan.

The approval comes as Britain struggles with soaring energy prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The UK energy strategy was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April.

The main focus was investing in renewable and nuclear power but it also promised new licences for gas projects in the North Sea arguing that producing gas in UK waters has a lower carbon footprint than doing so abroad.

Shell has changed the way it processes natural gas.

The plan was to vent excess gas at an offshore hub to reduce the corrosive CO2 content in the pipes.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas.

Methane gas emissions will be cut by 30% in the UK over the next 10 years.

Shell will bring a higher percentage of gas to the shore.

As world leaders gathered in Glasgow seven months ago to show their commitment to tackling climate change, it was the Cambo oil field that got the attention.

The UK government really was tested by Cambo. Shell pulled out as a minority partner. Politics made it riskier to invest in deep water.

First, it had other projects to consider. Jackdaw, a gas field close to existing infrastructure, was what Shell describes as a "vanilla" project.

Permission to install a tie-back was refused last year because production would raise emissions unacceptably.

Shell appealed. The UK government put on the back burner the plan to capture emissions at the carbon capture and storage plant it is helping to plan for St Fergus in Aberdeenshire. It plans to use renewable electricity to power its offshore platforms.

The UK government and its regulator seem to have won over those arguments, along with the sudden rise in concern about energy security.

The fight goes on. Jackdaw is a test of whether the UK government is serious about energy security or not.