Burnham considers approval for North Sea gas production despite election promises

New government, old dispute: British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is apparently facing a delicate energy policy decision. It's about gas from the North Sea, an election promise and billions in investments.

According to British media reports, the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants to approve the production of natural gas in the controversial Jackdaw field off the coast of Scotland as early as mid-September. This was reported by the BBC, among others, citing government and corporate circles. The government did not want to comment on the “speculation”.

Before coming to government in 2024, Burnham's Labor party had committed to no longer granting new permits for the exploitation of gas reserves in the North Sea. Burnham, in office since July, doesn't seem to see it quite so harshly. A government spokesman told AFP that oil and natural gas would "play an important role in our energy system for decades to come." It would be Burnham's next about-face: he had already conceded the planned reduction in the upper limit for party donations.

Jackdaw and the Rosebank gas and oil field in the North Sea were originally approved in 2022 and 2023 respectively - but at the end of 2025 a Scottish court revoked the licenses for the two companies Shell and Equinor to develop the fields. Greenpeace sued. The judge ordered the companies to submit new permit applications.

The Shell-Equinor joint venture that could exploit both fields, Adura, said Jackdaw and Rosebank could "supply ten percent of our gas production and ten percent of the oil production of the British continental shelf", generating billions of pounds and supporting thousands of jobs during the construction phase.

Environmentalists criticize that any further oil and gas production will delay the energy transition. British consumers would not benefit from lower prices because oil and gas prices would be set on the world market. "New drilling simply means more profits for the oil and gas companies," said Tessa Khan from the environmental organization Uplift.