Documents filed by Adura, the Shell-Equinor joint venture behind the proposed Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, show the project would create just 27 direct full-time jobs, prompting green campaigners to challenge industry claims that new drilling is essential for employment. The disclosure comes as fossil fuel companies, alongside the Conservatives, Reform UK and parts of Labour, lobby incoming prime minister Andy Burnham to approve Jackdaw and the Rosebank oilfield, with reports suggesting he may soon announce a decision on new drilling.

Adura's own environmental impact assessment states the field would sustain nearly 500 jobs a year in direct, indirect and induced employment, but only 27 of these are Jackdaw-specific, with 273 already existing at the Shearwater host installation; the platform will also be largely unstaffed and much of its construction has taken place in Norway. Campaigners from Greenpeace and Uplift argued this undermines the case for new drilling, saying it would mainly benefit oil and gas companies and shareholders rather than workers or consumer bills. Adura disputed this, saying Jackdaw and Rosebank together would support 3,500 jobs at peak construction, 880 ongoing jobs, £28bn in gross value added and £1.4bn in tax revenue by the end of this parliament, though Uplift has questioned the reliability of such tax revenue projections given available reliefs.