Approval of Jackdaw gas field would benefit Shell not public, campaigners say

Activists staged a protest urging the government to ‘stop the expansion of oil and gas production’

Activists protested against the possibility of the government’s greenlight for the Jackdaw gas field.

According to the updated plan submitted by Shell for the development of the Jackdaw field in the North Sea, gas from Jackdaw will come ashore in St Fergus and then enter the National Grid to supply homes and businesses across the UK.

Stop Cambo campaigners, who gathered outside the UK Government offices in Edinburgh, suggest prospective approval of the project would do nothing to lower soaring energy bills.

It would also deliver profits to Shell, they claimed.

Lauren MacDonald, a climate activist with the Stop Cambo campaign, said: “People in the UK want energy that is affordable and doesn’t put our climate and our future at risk, which means scaling up renewable energy now, insulating millions of leaky homes and immediately stopping the expansion of oil and gas production.

“This government needs to go away and come up with a better energy plan, one that benefits the public and not just Shell.”

A Shell spokesperson told ELN: “Jackdaw is expected to produce 6.5% of the UK’s North Sea gas – enough to heat 1.4 million homes – with operational emissions of less than 1% of the whole basin.

“It would help secure fuel supplies that UK homes and businesses will still rely on for years, while Shell and others scale up low-carbon solutions of the future. These include a planned carbon capture and storage facility where Jackdaw’s gas will come ashore.

“More widely, we are planning to invest £20-25 billion in the UK energy system over the next decade – more than 75% of this will be in low and zero-carbon, including offshore wind, hydrogen and electric mobility.”

A government spokesperson told ELN: “We are gradually driving down demand for oil and gas, but we cannot have a cliff edge by turning off our domestic source overnight.

“Doing so would put our energy security, British jobs and industries at risk and simply increase foreign imports, not reduce demand.

“Our British Energy Security Strategy sets out a long-term plan to ramp up cheap renewables as we transition away from expensive fossil fuels.”

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