Jackdaw gas field

With Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities intensifying and Donald Trump upping the pressure on President Zelensky, we'll be examining Ukraine's resistance to making a deal to end the war.

Is the government about to give the go-ahead to fresh extraction in the Jackdaw gas field east of Aberdeen? We'll hear from a supporter and an opponent.

And 60 years after a slag heap fell on a village school in South Wales, killing more than 100 children.

We hear from one of those who survived and a reporter who was the first at the scene.

from somebody who's watched lots of them, so that you don't have to.

But first, a decision on a major new gas field in the North Sea is expected to be announced tomorrow, Wednesday, after years of debate about its environmental impact.

Jackdaw, 150 miles east of Aberdeen, owned by Shell, was originally approved in 2022.

But along with Rosebank, an oil and gas field northwest of Shetland, owned by Adura, the Supreme Court ordered the UK government to reconsider, ruling that the previous Conservative government failed to properly assess the environmental impact.

And what we need to be able to do is help bring down energy costs, which are now accounting for more and more and more of people's spend.

And actually investing in Jackdaw, which is an untapped gas field in the North Sea, by allowing drilling at Rosebank, what we will be able to do is supply British homes with cheaper energy, bring down bills, and in the short term, help people get through a very difficult time.

And isn't that the job of a politician?

The job of the politician is to make sure that we don't layer extra costs onto people at a very difficult economic time.

That's certainly the job of a politician.

It's not the job of a politician to listen to a tissue of lies.

So the idea that people are going to be paying less in their energy bills because we approve the Jackdaw gas field or the Rosebank oil field is a complete fabrication.

They're the owners of Rosebank saying if you allow these licenses through, we can help supply homes by Christmas and reduce energy bills.

That is one of the big decisions sitting on the Energy Secretary's desk.

Xi has said a ruling on whether to approve the Jackdaw North Sea gas project will be made imminently, perhaps within days.

What could it mean for energy policy, prices, the climate and the Labour Party? It's one of the issues that's been debated at the SNP's annual conference in Aberdeen too, and we'll hear from their newest MP.

Also, is the UK prepared to hike tariffs on Chinese electric cars to get a deal with the EU at next month's summit? And looking much further...

Talking of drilling, let's turn to North Sea oil and gas drilling.

One of those issues that Andy Burnham has said he's open-minded and pragmatic about, but many inside and outside the Labour Party have very strong views on whether the UK should be extracting more fossil fuels from Britain's seabed.

A final decision on whether or not to approve drilling on the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea has just been announced.

around the corner for months and months and months now.

Uh, but I, I wanna take th- this moment, uh, before, before we start formally to, to make a, uh, a revision on a claim that I made on this show, um, because, uh, I said, I congratulated Andy Burnham a few weeks back on doing two good things.

Uh, if the, the keen viewers will remember, I congratulated him, uh, on the, uh, the, uh, what is it? The failure of the, uh, assisted suicide bill, and I congratulated him on the decision to open up, uh, the Jackdaw, or, uh, gas field in, uh, off the coast of Aberdeen.

As it turns out, after having said that he would give Jackdaw the permission, he has still refused to actually formally give that permission.

Of course.

And, and so I must retract my statement.

An urgent message for Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Every week, at least three Energy Voice journalists have to find new angles to discuss on the Rosebank and Jackdaw case.

So whether it's a yes or a no, in the words of Bob Geldof, please, just give us the [censored] decision.

Flotation hits doldrums, and electrification maybe isn't as viable as we once thought.

Mm.

Because it feels like Halloween is around the corner, and the big scary decision might get pushed back even further.

Uh, you know, this week we saw some speculation, um, some in- uh, industry tip-offs that maybe this week, uh, the day we're recording this specifically, um, Andy Burnham would approve the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields.

Now previously we'd heard the government was set on Jackdaw, Rosebank was still uncertain.

But wanted to start on the Prime Minister, um, Andy Burnham, because he is coming to Scotland.

Paris, yesterday at PMQs, he was under pressure again over this decision on Rosebank and Jackdaw-

Yeah

... and when is it coming.

He obviously is coming to Scotland, um, but we know he's coming to talk about something else.

He wants to come up and talk about devolution, which is his, his favorite topic.

And, you know, it's been signaled for so long that they are probably gonna say yes to Jackdaw.

They are probably gonna say no to Rosebank, Rosebank being the, the, the oil field, Jackdaw the gas field.

Will John Swinney manage to match all the headlines that have come from other party conferences so far? Or will he actually be upstaged by cheeky old, uh, Andy Burnham, who seems to be intent on coming up to Scotland at long, long last in the middle of the conference, um, interrupting the etiquette that's normally observed around these things.

We look at the fallout after the Green Conference, what exactly is going on in the Garvagh Road, um, the prospects for an announcement soon, um, about the Jackdaw Field, and much else besides.

Those are the headlines.

Now for the podcast.

But it's, it's kinda classic really because, you know, and again, it's this sort of stuff that gets skipped over by, by everybody because, you know, Andy Burnham will say he's been to all parts of the UK, and he just hasn't, except he went to Balmoral.

Now, just going to Balmoral or wherever it was, you know, to, to meet the, the King isn't, that's not coming to Scotland, do you know? So, uh, it kind of, it, he, this is gonna be his big, his big moment.

Presumably then he will, uh, I mean, depends where he's going, 'cause if he is being, if he's really being annoying, he might well pitch up to Aberdeen to announce, you know, Rosebank and Jackdaw, which would really be, I mean, whilst the Greens are on the stage [laughs] with the SNP.

[laughs] I don't see where else he could go or what else he could do that would be worth the, the candle really.

We have the ability.

There is Rosebank, there is Jackdaw in the North Sea.

It's ludicrous.

Successive governments have avoided this.

It's private companies' oil reserves.

They will sell it on the open market.

It won't make any difference to prices if we open up Jackdaw and Rosebank.

So the problem is we have sold off our grid and I think it's quite useful that Andy Burnham in his conference speech did say he's going to set up GB Grid which is about trying to get more of the cheap renewable energy and indeed nuclear where that's being built as well online quicker because at the moment one of the biggest hold-ups if you speak to investors in energy is getting it connected up to the grid.