// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Burnham defends Jackdaw decision as Badenoch urges PM to overturn ban on new oil and gas licences
Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and Chancellor John Healey visited the St Fergus Gas Terminal
The UK government has approved production from the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea amid intense debate about the project's environmental and economic impact.
Ministers said the first gas could be produced by the end of this month, helping heat millions of homes, and also announced the creation of a new energy wealth fund.
But environmental campaigners said the decision would hamper efforts to tackle climate change and make "no meaningful difference" to UK energy security.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the prime minister of "dithering" on Jackdaw and said a ban on new oil and gas licences should be repealed - but Andy Burnham said her party had "messed up" the original decision.
Jackdaw is situated 150 miles (241km) east of Aberdeen and is operated by Adura, a joint venture between Shell and Norwegian state energy firm Equinor.
A decision is yet to be taken on whether production can begin at Rosebank, the UK's largest known untapped oil field, which is located off the coast of Shetland in the North Atlantic.
Adura says Jackdaw will provide about 6% of UK gas production, enough to power 1.4 million homes. After imports are included, that amounts to about 2% of total UK demand.
The gas will be pumped to the existing Shearwater platform for processing – known as a tie-back in industry terms – before being piped to the St Fergus gas terminal in Aberdeenshire.
The UK government said that over its expected 11-year lifespan, Jackdaw would support the UK's gas supply, protect hundreds of jobs and add £2.9bn to the economy.