Jackdaw gasfield would create only 27 full-time jobs, green campaigners say

Activists from Fossil Free London call on Andy Burnham not to give the green light to Jackdaw and Rosebank. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Activists from Fossil Free London call on Andy Burnham not to give the green light to Jackdaw and Rosebank. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock Jackdaw gasfield would create only 27 full-time jobs, green campaigners say Anti fossil-fuel groups are urging Andy Burnham to rule out new drilling, which they say will not shave a penny off bills More people can fit on to the top deck of a standard London bus than will be directly employed on the new Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, industry documents show. Only 27 direct full-time jobs would be created by Jackdaw, one of the biggest gasfields remaining in the North Sea , according to an environmental impact assessment filed publicly by its owner, Adura , a joint venture between Shell and Norway’s Equinor. The document states: “Over the lifetime of the field there would be a consistent level of employment averaging at nearly 500 jobs a year in direct, indirect and induced employment – this includes 273 direct jobs which exist on the Shearwater host installation and [an] additional 27 Jackdaw-specific jobs.” The fossil fuel industry, along with the Conservatives, Reform UK and sections of the Labour party, is lobbying Andy Burnham, the incoming prime minister, for Jackdaw and Rosebank , an oilfield west of Shetland, to be given the go-ahead. On Thursday some media reports suggested Burnham was preparing to announce new drilling. Advocates say the sites would support thousands of jobs. But green campaigners said the impact on the UK economy of exploiting the fields would be minimal. Angharad Hopkinson, a political campaigner at Greenpeace, which uncovered the Jackdaw jobs figure, said: “Fossil fuel cheerleaders have repeatedly defended new oil and gas developments by claiming they are vital for employment. Those claims look increasingly difficult to justify when the developer’s own documents tell a very different story.” Tessa Khan, the executive director of Uplift, a campaign group, said: “It would be a mistake if the first thing Andy Burnham does as prime minister is cave into the demands of the profiteering oil and gas industry. “These are companies that have made obscene profits, while our energy costs have skyrocketed. New North Sea drilling will not take a penny off our bills, it will just make a handful of executives and their shareholders even richer.” How green is Andy Burnham? Britain’s next PM faces tough climate decisions Read more The platform for drilling Jackdaw will be unstaffed for most of its operating life. Much of the construction has already taken place in Norway, with limited scope for UK workers. Hopkinson said: “[This] confirms it’s never been workers who stand to gain most from projects like Jackdaw – it’s fossil fuel companies and their shareholders. If this is the best case they