Jackdaw gasfield would create only 27 full-time jobs, green campaigners say | Oil and gas companies

The top deck of a standard London bus could fit more people than will be directly employed by the new Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, industry documents show.

Only 27 direct full-time jobs will be created at Jackdaw, one of the largest remaining gas fields in the North Sea. environmental impact assessment It was floated by its owner Adura, a joint venture between Shell and Norway’s Equinor.

The document states: “Over the life of the site there will be a consistent level of employment averaging approximately 500 jobs per annum in direct, indirect and induced employment – ​​this includes 273 direct jobs available at the Shearwater main installation and [an] plus 27 more jobs specific to Jackdaw.”

The fossil fuel industry, along with the Conservatives, Reform UK and parts of the Labor Party, are lobbying the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, to approve Jackdaw and Rosebank, an oil field in the west of Shetland.

Some media reports on Thursday suggested that Burnham was preparing to announce new drilling. Advocates say the sites will support thousands of jobs.

But green campaigners said the impact of using the fields on the UK economy would be minimal. Angharad Hopkinson, a political campaigner for Greenpeace, which revealed the Jackdaw employment figure, said: “Fossil fuel supporters have repeatedly defended new oil and gas developments by claiming they are vital for jobs. It becomes increasingly difficult to justify these claims when the developer’s own documents tell a very different story.”

Tessa Khan, chief executive of campaign group Uplift, said: “It would be a mistake if the first thing Andy Burnham did as prime minister was to bow to the demands of the profiteering oil and gas industry.

“These are companies making obscene profits while our energy costs are soaring. New North Sea drilling won’t take a penny off our bills, it’ll just make a handful of executives and their shareholders richer.”

Little Crow’s drilling platform will remain unmanned for most of its operating life. Most of the construction has already taken place in Norway, with limited coverage for workers in the UK.

Hopkinson said: “[This] It confirms that it is never workers who stand to gain most from projects like Jackdaw; fossil fuel companies and their shareholders. “If this is their best-case scenario for getting more oil and gas under a collapsing climate, it’s a case beyond hope.”

Adura said Jackdaw will support additional employment in its supply chain. A spokesman said: “Jackdaw and Rosebank will support 3,500 jobs at peak construction, with 880 high-quality, well-paid jobs maintained throughout production in communities across the UK.

“The projects will generate total gross value added of over £28bn over their lifetime and generate immediate tax revenue of £1.4bn before the end of this parliament.”

Employment in the North Sea has been declining for two decades as more than 90% of resources have been mined.

The increase has cast doubt on the industry’s claims of tax revenue from the projects because the tax breaks offered for the projects are so high that greatly outweighs any returns. The group argues that the British public will cover almost all the costs of Rosebank’s development through tax breaks.

Labor promised in a manifesto that there would be no new oil or gas licences. But both areas were on the licensing system at the last general election, so supporters argue they can continue without breaching the commitment.

Green campaigners attacked these loopholes as contrary to the spirit of the pledge. Fatih Birol, the world’s leading energy economist, told the Guardian that opening the fields would not do much for the UK’s energy security.

The consultation on Little Crow will close on 8 August. Adura announced its environmental impact assessment for Rosebank on Thursday before further consultation in this area, claiming the resulting greenhouse gas emissions would be small.

Khan said the assessment underestimated the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from the site on the climate crisis. Rosebank would create carbon dioxide equivalent to 70% of the UK’s annual emissions, which was “undeniably significant”. He added that this would not meaningfully increase the UK’s energy supply: “This is largely oil for export.”

Adura said: “Jackdaw and Rosebank will be among the lowest emissions developments on the UK continental shelf [UKCS]It is one of the most highly regulated and lowest-emission oil and gas basins anywhere in the world.

“Average production emissions intensity across Adura’s new development portfolio, including Rosebank and Jackdaw, could be half the UKCS average and around eight times lower than the emissions intensity associated with imported liquefied natural gas.”