Jackdaw field gets the go ahead

Sometimes sensible proposals get through. This will bring more tax revenue, more jobs, and less CO2.

85 Comments

  1. Michael McGrath
    June 2, 2022

    Excellent news. Now, please can Cuadrilla be given the go-ahead to prove ( or disprove) the viability of shale gas extraction

    1. Ian Wragg
      June 2, 2022

      What about the Cumbrian coal mine.

    2. acorn
      June 2, 2022

      Fracking suspended. The ML 2.9 earthquake is now the largest fracking-induced earthquake recorded in the UK and has resulted in the suspension of operations until the licensing regulator, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), has investigated why an earthquake of this magnitude occurred.

      Such an investigation is needed because the earthquake magnitude was comparable to the “low-likelihood” expected maximum magnitude. Moreover, the earthquake occurred during a period of suspended fluid injection which was taking place because of the risk mitigation strategy used for fracking-induced earthquakes in the UK. (Energy Post)

      Fracked-up Tory MPs are hoping the OGA does not raise the Macroseismic Intensity Scale limit from Ml 0.5 to ML 2.0 in their Constituency.

      1. Peter2
        June 2, 2022

        Richter scale website says 2.9 is minor generally not felt but recorded.
        Good try acorn.

        1. rose
          June 2, 2022

          Quite so, Peter. The word earthquake is misleading. But convenient to the saboteurs.

          1. Peter2
            June 2, 2022

            I quite agree Rose.

          2. APL
            June 3, 2022

            Peter2: “2.9 is minor generally not felt but recorded.”

            We took a couple of billion tones of coal out of 18 inch to four feet thick seams in South Wales and Yorkshire over a period of two hundred years, nobody gave a damn and hardly anyone noticed the subsidence caused as a result. Certainly nobody was whinging about earthquakes.

          3. Peter2
            June 3, 2022

            Well said APL

        2. glen cullen
          June 3, 2022

          ‘’A 0.8ML tremor, which was recorded on 26 October 2018, was likened to vibrations at the surface of one person jumping.
          The 0.5ML threshold at which fracking must stop under the government’s traffic light system, was compared with vibrations from mixed traffic on a busy road or slightly less than that from a door slamming.’’ A BEIS study https://drillordrop.com/2018/11/13/lancashire-fracking-earth-tremor-was-like-dropping-a-bag-of-flour-on-the-floor-government-report/comment-page-1/

      2. Mactheknife
        June 5, 2022

        The independent report said it was probable that it was caused by fracking tests but largely down to an unusual geological structure which was not likely to be there in other wells.

  2. glen cullen
    June 2, 2022

    So the decision of Jackdaw wasn’t environmental it was political, using that same logic please start fracking for shale gas and reverse net-zero otherwise its just a political stunt

  3. paul
    June 2, 2022

    Yes, like the bank giving full backing for stablecoin and all loses.

  4. Shirley M
    June 2, 2022

    Let’s hope the gas gets used to keep prices low in the UK and not sold abroad for huge profits like most of our output. The USA manages to keep their prices low through self sufficiency. Why can’t we?

    I expect Boris will want to supply the EU at knock down prices. I hope I am wrong and Boris does put the UK first, just for a change!

    1. glen cullen
      June 2, 2022

      You paint a bleak pictures which I fear maybe reality
.our government could pass a law tomorrow saying that only surplus oil can be sold on the international markets
but when did any Tory government put the UK first

      1. DavidJ
        June 2, 2022

        Indeed Glen.

    2. turboterrier
      June 2, 2022

      Shirley M
      Do hope your not holding your breath.

    3. Original Richard
      June 2, 2022

      Shirley M :

      If some of the gas does get sold to the EU, who are desperate for gas from anywhere but Russia, then it will at least help with our ÂŁ100bn/YEAR trading deficit with the EU and, if we had a ruling elite who were both smart and backed the UK rather than the EU, could be used as a lever to sort out the N.I.P., fishing and trading terms.

      1. alan
        June 2, 2022

        +1

      2. Shirley M
        June 2, 2022

        Only if we sell them surplus gas. Exporting gas, and then importing an equal amount of gas will do nothing for our trade deficit, and probably make it worse if gas exported to the EU is cheaper than gas imported from elsewhere. Boris is bound to appease the EU wherever possible, even if it is detrimental to the UK.

        1. anon
          June 3, 2022

          We do not have a surplus of UK gas produced, but combined with imports (Norway pipe) we could store surplus over use in the Summer.

          Our strategic top notch decision makers decided UK storage was not required and closed the Rough facility. IClosed and PUT BEYOND use serviceable coalmines and plant.

          Same old strategy , political, anti-democratic globalist/EU control measures, the antithesis of taking back control.

    4. Donna
      June 2, 2022

      I think you’ll find that “despite Brexit” we’re still signed up to the EU’s policy of energy interdependence.

    5. Fedupsoutherner
      June 2, 2022

      Shirley. Agree. I hope they use it as a bargaining chip.

    6. None of the above
      June 3, 2022

      This energy will be priced according to the demands of the global market unless the Government wishes to nationalise the industry. However, raising production levels will put downward oressure on prices and it is good for British jobs, tax revenues and will consideraby reduce the level of carbon dioxide created by transport infrastructure.
      Let’s get fracking!

  5. Donna
    June 2, 2022

    A rare glimpse of sanity from the Eco Loons in Government.

    1. Lifelogic
      June 2, 2022

      +1 very rare indeed since Carrie arrived on the scene. Boris used to be a climate realist a few years back. Net zero is insane for the climate, the economy and politically insane too.

    2. Original Richard
      June 2, 2022

      Donna :

      The pointless, unnecessary and economy destroying Net Zero Strategy is so insane that our existing political parties – when they finally and wake up and smell the coffee – will be working hard to ensure they are not in power when the lights finally go out and millions take to the streets because there is no point in staying at home in the cold and dark.

      1. DavidJ
        June 2, 2022

        +1

      2. Guy Liardethttps://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/02/04/you-can-interfere-too-much/#comment-1297725
        June 6, 2022

        Let’s not forget that CO2 doesn’t drive the climate. That global warming causes climate change. That we haven’t had any warming for seven years and six months. That since the satellite era in 1979 the globe has been warming at the absolutely TERRIFYING rate of one point three degrees C in a hundred years (sarc)

  6. alan jutson
    June 2, 2022

    Good news, has logic and common sense started to prevail at last ?

    1. Ian Wragg
      June 2, 2022

      I think they’ve been following gridwatch and see that windmills are frequently generating less than 2gw.

      1. glen cullen
        June 2, 2022

        More likely they’re trying to preserve the dwindling Tory voter
maybe they’re starting to realise that they can’t win the next election solely on the green vote
        The average Tory voter doesn’t want wind-farms, renewables, net-zero or EVs…the sooner this party realises the better

    2. acorn
      June 2, 2022

      No, it’s just that Quango-land regulators are taking their operating instructions, daily, from Downing Street. Likewise, the currently leaderless Met Police; who, all of a sudden, couldn’t find a party at an Ibiza beach club. Likewise, a Party-gate enquiry by any Civil Servant, can be binned / redacted on receipt by a Secretary of State, without recourse. Likewise, the OGA, all of a sudden, doesn’t see a problem with licencing the drilling of a gas field which, up till now, no Driller would touch with a five thousand meter sub seabed deep, bargepole.

  7. Everhopeful
    June 2, 2022

    Cautiously sounds like good news.
    Potential for 6.5% of our total gas output ( is that a lot?đŸ€”)
    Anyway 
a glimmer of sense.
    Now, about the Cumbrian coal mine


    1. acorn
      June 2, 2022

      Jackdaw is expected to yield 6 million cubic meters per day. UK current consumption is circa 210 million cubic meters per day averaged over a year. Jackdaw is an ultra high pressure and temperature gas/condensate field. 17,000 psi / 200 degree C. If drilling the four initial wells goes mammaries up; you will be picking parts of the Well Head Platform, out of your back garden.

      1. Peter2
        June 2, 2022

        More ridiculous fantasy from acorn.

      2. Sea_Warrior
        June 3, 2022

        Cheerful soul, aren’t you?

  8. Diane
    June 2, 2022

    Right on cue ‘Environmental campaigners threaten legal action after Jackdaw wins final approval’ Greenpeace UK believes permit approval could be unlawful and represents a clear breach of the government’s legally binding net zero commitments. So, tell us now, before the next U-turn, could it, is it and does it ?

    1. glen cullen
      June 2, 2022

      Therefore we need to ditch the policy of net-zero pretty dam quick

      1. Iain Moore
        June 3, 2022

        And stop Governments from signing up to treaties that compromises our sovereignty and only empowers these left wing groups.

      2. Peter Lawrenson
        June 4, 2022

        Net zero is law. Anything the govt do with fossil fuels will be challenged in the courts and the govt will lose. Oil / gas companies will hesitate on investment (remember Cambo) and put the money elsewhere. So tax take down. jobs gone, supply chains gone. Only sales of red paint up.

        1. Guy Liardethttps://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/02/04/you-can-interfere-too-much/#comment-1297725
          June 7, 2022

          Describe Net Zero for me, please. There, I knew you couldn’t.

  9. Nigl
    June 2, 2022

    Indeed. Only because you are in trouble. This blog called for it ages ago. Maybe they will get on with Brexit.

    Very poor Cabinet quality. Now Boris can’t have a clear out in case they turn on him. What a mess.

  10. pax vobiscum
    June 2, 2022

    There’s an Agatha Christie tale about Jackdaws.
    Haven’t the faintest what this one is about.
    Perhaps add a second explanatory sentence for us drooling zombies
    not in the club.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      June 2, 2022

      Pax. Why don’t you use your initiative and Google it? After all you took the time to post on this site. You could have found out for yourself.

      1. Pax V
        June 3, 2022

        The Security Services understand my posts.

        1. glen cullen
          June 3, 2022

          GCHQ knows what you’ve typed before you hit send

      2. Pax V
        June 3, 2022

        Examples of “the club” are Order Order and Going Postal.
        A small number of approved posters talking to each other.
        With a couple of regular pretend. opposition type posters.
        Count up the posters Fed up Southerner.
        Open your eyes.
        I’m just playing a game. ( on no side other than Truth)

      3. Pax
        June 3, 2022

        Because FUS. I’m not the slightest interested in it.
        I shall leave you in peace now.

        1. Et cum spiritu tuo
          June 4, 2022

          Oh an enlightened one 


  11. Mark B
    June 2, 2022

    Good news but let us wait and see how things pan out. If this gas and oil is just for international sale and not for the UK, then it is of no value to us.

    Whatever efforts you and / or anyone else have made, Sir John I would just like to say, thank you.

  12. Everhopeful
    June 2, 2022

    Sorry.
    Only AMENDMENTS to Pandemic Treaty have been blocked.
    đŸ€Ź

  13. Everhopeful
    June 2, 2022

    Good grief.
    Two real policemen wearing proper helmets on the beat!
    Is there a small return to sanity?
    Like Jackdaw field.

    1. glen cullen
      June 2, 2022

      An actual policeman, haven’t seen one of those in decades

    2. None of the above
      June 3, 2022

      What colour were his bootlaces?

  14. MPC
    June 2, 2022

    Let’s not get excited until the outcome of the inevitable legal challenge, that this decision is contra Net zero, is known.

    1. DavidJ
      June 2, 2022

      We need rid of Net Zero too.

    2. Everhopeful
      June 2, 2022

      +1
      I think a certain famous organisation is already flexing its green muscles.

    3. Original Richard
      June 2, 2022

      MPC :

      I would not be surprised to learn that the taxpayer is funding the green legal challenge to opening the Jackdaw field just as the taxpayer is funding the legal challenge to the Government’s Rwanda deal.

  15. Slfred
    June 2, 2022

    Well the scales have fallen from their eyes.The Government should immediately communicate
    to the electorate that because of the global issues re energy security the UK will proceed to frack the fields already drilled and open up our oil fields to harvest our natural reserves.
    Also open up dialogue with Libya who has massive reserves but lack the financial backing.
    Taking this action will change the Conservatives image .

  16. Lester_Cynic
    June 2, 2022

    JR

    Why the need for less Co2?

    You’re a disciple of the ludicrous Net Zero scam!

    Reply because those who make the decisions take CO2 into account

    1. Original Richard
      June 2, 2022

      Lester_Cynic : Reply to Reply :

      Simply pointing out the pointlessness (our CO2 emissions contribute just 1% to global man-made emissions) and/or the technical impossibility of achieving of Net Zero (certainly based on wind rather than nuclear) without either economy destroying expense or suffering constant power blackouts or both is insufficient to persuade the Marxist driven green religion followers to abandon their campaign.

      The only way forward is for everyone to take the time to go and check the climate data for themselves – not take the nonsense coming from the BBC – and thus see for themselves that there is no climate emergency and the whole religion is a scam.

    2. Lester_Cynic
      June 2, 2022

      Reply to reply

      Is there a chance that they might be wrong?

      There’s an awful lot of evidence that they are and it’s a very costly mistake for the country when they’re proven wrong

  17. The Prangwizard
    June 2, 2022

    Thank you, Sir John, for bringing this to our knowledge..

    I do hope the government provides immediate support and the best incentives, and defence against subversives and internal traitors so production is not delayed and is maximised. The output must be reserved for domestic use and reserve.

  18. J Flood
    June 2, 2022

    Unless the ‘need’ to reduce CO2 is paid heed to then nothing of any importance can be done. However, the long game is that unless we use fracked gas to get to a SMR dominated Grid then the whole shebang will crash. One big power cut and the government will totter, two and it will fall. Then there will be a race for any energy at all which will be dirty in CO2 terms. Even Greens need to understand that they will be blamed if the lights go out and their cause will go down the tubes.
    Avoid the cuts by using gas.
    I have a post at Conservative Woman/TCW called something like ‘The sensible speech on energy the PM will never make’ which goes through the process. I personally think Net Zero is unnecessary, but politically speaking that won’t wash.

  19. rose
    June 2, 2022

    Congratulations to Sir John for persisting with this. If the Conservative boat were capsized, he would not be able to exert his influence in this way.

  20. Bloke
    June 3, 2022

    Jackdaws entering a chimney create blockages, but pipes from a field in the right direction may heat our homes efficiently. Patients needing hospital treatment may view Nightingales differently.

    Magpies in gardens may leave less offence. 20 years ago, a bloke trimming conifers found some of their remains on his ground. It looked like a wet sprig of nest, shining in the sun. In contrast it was a heavy 22ct gold necklace with a diamond, worth ÂŁ2,600 even then.

    Opportunities are everywhere. Cerce Trova.

  21. Derek Henry
    June 3, 2022

    Hi John,

    Hope you are well.

    More tax revenue ?

    We use the ÂŁ not The Euro.

    The Truth is out John taxes for revenue are obsolete. The narrative and framing will no longer hold.

    https://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2022/05/why-british-state-is-magic-money-tree

    Will Brexit be completed soon ?

    That should be the priority after the supply side inflation.

  22. Lester_Cynic
    June 3, 2022

    JR

    What evidence do YOU have that CO2 is harmful?

    It’s a plant nutrient gas and we need more not less, you will exhale 30 tonnes of Co2 during your lifetime as will your family and every other human being so what is your justification for your ludicrous statement?

    Please reveal your thinking!

    reply CO 2 is needed for plant growth. I have not made a ludicrous statement

    1. Lester_Cynic
      June 3, 2022

      JR

      You’re arguing for a reduction in Co2!

      Whilst acknowledging that Co2 is vital as a plant nutrient, you can’t have it both ways

      It’s a ludicrous position to take

      Reply Try reading what I write. I have always said the government and world elites believe we need to cut CO2 so any policy proposal that I want to deliver is more likely to get through if it helps do that. Producing more of our own gas and importing less does so.

      1. glen cullen
        June 3, 2022

        SirJ that sounds a bit like co2 appeasement to me

    2. Mikey
      June 3, 2022

      1

  23. hefner
    June 3, 2022

    L_C, What evidence do YOU have that CO2 is not harmful? In the 1850s, with a CO2 concentration at 270 ppm, it seems that all vegetation was already growing nicely.

    And what is your scientific evidence (ie, not BBC, nor other MSM, nor your favourite right-wing website) about what CO2 does or does not do?

    In these Jubilee days where royal institutions appear to receive some plaudits from people, what are your references or qualifications to say that, for example, the Royal Society (royalsociety.org ‘The Basis of Climate Change’) is utterly wrong?

    1. Lester_Cynic
      June 3, 2022

      Hefner
      Typical rubbish I’d expect from you!

    2. Peter2
      June 3, 2022

      Have a look at the extinction clock website
      Decades of doommongering predictions that have failed to come true

      1. glen cullen
        June 3, 2022

        I wonder how many of our MPs have seen the Extinction Clock website

  24. Lester_Cynic
    June 3, 2022

    I didn’t think that my latest comment would make it!

    1. hefner
      June 3, 2022

      So neither you nor your clown deputy can provide any sensible answer, or even properly argued rebuke. Interesting.

      1. Peter2
        June 3, 2022

        More nonsense from you hefner
        Decent to trolldom you and acorn both.
        Why so angry?

  25. hefner
    June 3, 2022

    And to conclude, I found L_C’s attack on Sir John rather senseless. Does he not know that politics is ‘the Art of the Possible’? Just maximalist (and deluded) demands rarely get a positive outcome.

    1. Peter2
      June 3, 2022

      But L…C didn’t actually attack Sir John.
      Very odd comment from you heffy.

      1. hefner
        June 4, 2022

        If you think so P2, let me remind you:
        ‘What evidence do YOU have that CO2 is harmful? Reveal your thinking!
        You are arguing for a reduction in CO2! It is a ludicrous position to take ‘

        And when I asked what information and where he gets it from, I get ‘Typical rubbish I expect from you!’
        Maybe you might agree that is not really conducive to the kind of ‘decent debate’ you are keen on.

        1. Peter2
          June 4, 2022

          I haven’t claimed or said what you say.
          Are you confusing me with someone else?

          1. hefner
            June 5, 2022

            You did P2, some time in the last year in an exchange when I had told you were unable to write a primary contribution and could only write one- or two-line comments without much information, and only following on comments by NLH, bill, acorn et al, and never relevant to what Sir John had written on the day. The perfect troll in a way.

            Have you already forgotten? Anyway I am not going to lose sleep to find the exact date you wrote that. I let you have this ‘victory’ on one ‘lefty’. I guess it will make your day.

  26. Peter Lawrenson
    June 4, 2022

    Net zero is law. Anything the govt do with fossil fuels will be challenged in the courts and the govt will lose. Oil / gas companies will hesitate on investment (remember Cambo) and put the money elsewhere. So tax take down. jobs gone, supply chains gone. Only sales of red paint up.

  27. Guy Liardet
    June 9, 2022

    As the UK’s contribution to global CO2 is about one per cent, our unparalleled economic calamity will do nothing for global temperature in 2100. So who are we setting an example to by our virtue signalling? The Chinese? Don’t forget; modern science says CO2 doesn’t drive the weather. And one point three degreees warming a century is too slight to produce rxtremes

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