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,…
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Willow Project in Alaska Inching Forward as BLM Recommends Partial Approval
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…

Alaska Oil, Natural Gas Lease Sale Set for Cook Inlet This Month
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…

Japanese Natural Gas Buyers Meet with U.S., State Officials Over Alaska LNG Project
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’s Alaska LNG Import Conversion Extended Three Years
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…

Marathon Petroleum Affiliate Seeks Extension for Alaska LNG Import Project
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…

Long-planned Alaska LNG Project Wouldn’t Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions, DOE Says
The Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project would not have an impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if constructed, according to the latest analysis from the Department of Energy (DOE). DOE in late June published its draft supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Alaska LNG project (DOE/EIS-0512-S1). Researchers found that with mitigations already…

Alaska’s Enstar Natural Gas to Get Another Canadian Owner
Enstar Natural Gas Co., Alaska’s top natural gas distributor, would get a new Canadian corporate owner in an $800 million sale announced Thursday. In an all-cash transaction, TriSummit Utilities Inc. would acquire Anchorage-based Enstar from AltaGas Ltd. The deal between the buyer and seller, both Calgary-based, is expected to close in early 2023 following regulatory…

ConocoPhillips IDs Pressure Build-up as Source of Leak on Alaska’s North Slope
An internal investigation from ConocoPhillips into a recent gas leak at a site in Alaska’s North Slope points to extreme pressure that caused well equipment to fail, releasing a pocket of gas to the surface. The report comes more than two months after a leak occurred at one of the Houston-based independent’s oldest Alpine Field…

Lawsuit Said Imminent to Stop Peregrine Oil, Gas Project in Alaska’s NPR-A
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said it intends to sue the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for insufficiently vetting the potential impacts of 88 Energy Ltd.’s Project Peregrine oil and gas development in Alaska on the Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear population. “With only about 900 bears remaining, the Southern Beaufort Sea population…