Alaska

In a move that had been expected, the Biden administration on Wednesday canceled the seven remaining oil and natural gas leases in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) noting there was insufficient analysis of the acreage in question.  The leases had been auctioned by the Trump administration through the Department of Interior (DOI) Coastal…

ConocoPhillips raised its full-year 2023 production forecast after achieving record output domestically and worldwide during the first three months of the year.  The company is targeting full-year 2023 production of 1.78-1.80 million boe/d, a 10,000 boe/d increase at the midpoint from previous guidance. This would be up from full-year production of 1.74 million boe/d recorded…

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to change how public lands are managed to put conservation on equal footing as other uses, including oil and natural gas extraction. The BLM plan for conservation leasing would entail a time-limited lease of public land that allows interested organizations to conduct specific restoration or mitigation activities.…

The Biden administration has given the go-ahead to ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow project planned for Alaska’s North Slope. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued its Record of Decision (ROD) on Monday. The ROD said the approval included three drill sites (BT1, BT2 and BT3) and associated infrastructure. The approval includes up to 199 total wells,…

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has outlined a preferred alternative for ConocoPhillips’ Willow project proposed for Alaska, creating a path for possible approval for one of the largest oil and gas developments on public lands. In a final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) released Wednesday, BLM staff recommended approval of three of…

An auction to offer some offshore oil and natural gas leases is planned at the end of this month for Alaska’s Cook Inlet.  The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is offering 958,202 acres off Alaska’s southcentral coast in a lease sale scheduled for Dec. 30.  The Inflation Reduction Act directed BOEM to hold the…

Some of the largest Japanese offtakers of U.S. LNG met with federal and Alaskan officials during a summit in Japan to discuss developing an export project that could connect North Slope natural gas to a supply-short Asian market. At a summit convened in Tokyo by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)…

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) has been granted more time to convert a former LNG export terminal on the Alaskan coast that would supply natural gas to a refinery. FERC granted subsidiary Trans-Foreland Pipeline Co. LLC’s request to extend the conversion of the Kenai liquefied natural gas facility until the end of 2025 (No. CP19-118). The…

A Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) subsidiary has asked FERC for a three-year extension to transform the Kenai LNG export facility in Alaska to an import terminal. Trans-Foreland Pipeline Co. LLC cited the Covid-19 pandemic, disruptions in the global energy market caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine and an unstable liquefied natural gas (LNG) market in…