ConocoPhillips Seeks to Expand Oil Exploration in Alaskan Arctic

Erec Isaacson Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg Photo by Eddie Seal /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — ConocoPhillips is pushing to explore for more oil near its mammoth Willow project in Alaska, betting there are vast reserves of undiscovered crude in the state’s Arctic north.

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The company filed applications Monday with federal regulators asking to drill four new test wells and undertake seismic studies to search for additional oil in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. It is ConocoPhillips’ largest proposed exploration campaign since 2020.

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The effort fits squarely into President Donald Trump’s push to increase domestic oil development and ConocoPhillips’ mission to further diversify its portfolio as shale basins in Texas and other states age. Alaska offers the company an opportunity to leverage an infrastructure network that includes both decades-old processing facilities and Willow, which is still under construction and is already projected to produce 600 million barrels over 30 years.

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“As we look out in the future, that’s an investment we want to keep full,” Erec Isaacson, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, said in an interview. It’s a matter of “going out and exploring now to ensure that we continue to have this pipeline of opportunities that we’re looking at to backfill our infrastructure in the future.”

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The prospect of fresh drilling is likely to alarm environmentalists, who warn nations should be phasing out — not extending — oil production to keep global temperature rise in check.

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Conservationists who opposed the Willow project and previous exploratory drilling in the region also say oil operations imperil a region rich in wildlife, including Arctic and red fox, musk oxen, migrating caribou and grizzly bears.

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Supporters of Arctic oil exploration, however, say the world will need crude for decades to come. 

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The wells ConocoPhillips wants to drill would be within the sprawling 23 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that was set aside as a source of energy for the US Navy more than century ago. 

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It’s a seemingly endlessly flat tundra covering an area the size of Indiana. During a June visit, it was marked by pools of just-melted snow among mounds of tussocks and other tundra grasses. Ptarmigan, Arctic terns and other birds hopped among the vegetation.

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If approved by the Bureau of Land Management, the work would unfold during the winter drilling season that runs roughly Nov. 1 through May 1, when crews can build temporary ice roads deep into the reserve. The heart of activity would be in February, March and April, before the spring thaw forces the company to dismantle worker camps and withdraw equipment, including as many as two drilling rigs.

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The proposed wells include three near ConocoPhillips’ Bear Tooth Unit site, with one about 11 miles from Willow. A fourth would be drilled further east in the company’s Greater Mooses Tooth Unit site.