14th Oct 2026 15:40
(Alliance News) - A decision on whether to give the green light to the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea is "imminent", Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has said.
But a decision on Rosebank, the largest untapped oil field in the North Sea, will take "a bit longer", the minister told the Energy UK annual conference in London on Wednesday.
The UK government is considering whether to grant permission for the two projects, which were initially approved by the previous Conservative administration before the courts ruled that the full environmental impacts of the fossil fuels drilled should be taken into account.
While Labour had promised a ban on new drilling in the North Sea in its 2024 election manifesto, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has vowed to take a "pragmatic" approach to such decisions.
The industry, Tories and Reform are calling for the fields to be given the go-ahead to boost energy security and economic growth, but environmental campaigners and analysts warn they will harm climate action and do nothing to bring down bills, and that energy security is better served with renewables.
While Fahnbulleh would not be drawn on what the decision on either project would be, she told delegates at the Energy UK conference: "We have got all the information on Jackdaw and my department has gone through that, so there is a decision that will be imminent.
"Rosebank will take a little bit longer," she said, adding that her first two months in the job had been dominated by the question, and she wanted to make the decisions as quickly as possible.
But Fahnbulleh also warned that, while oil and gas would be used for decades to come, the need for the transition to clean energy sources was "real and urgent", pointing to the past summer of record heatwaves, droughts and wildfires as evidence of the need to tackle climate change.
And amid reports that ministers were looking to cut the budget for homes to make clean energy and efficiency upgrades under the "warm homes plan" to pay for defence spending, Fahnbulleh insisted that the government was "crystal clear" on the importance of the scheme.
It was not moving at the pace the government wanted it to, with discussions now about how regional government could play a more central role in delivery.
The Energy Secretary said electrification of energy, shifting to renewables, heat pumps and electric vehicles, was key to affordability of energy.
Home upgrades were the route to lowering bills, with homes that have solar, insulation and batteries potentially saving hundreds of pounds on bills, she said.
"If you're a family in fuel poverty, if you're a low-income household, this is something we can do tangibly and quickly, and that is why it's an absolute imperative – and the job for government, candidly, is to get on with it and do it at pace."
By Emily Beament and Rebecca Speare-Cole, Press Association
source: PA
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