Page 9 - NorthAmOil Week 12 2023

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

ConocoPhillips to delay minor

construction at Willow

ALASKA CONOCOPHILLIPS has agreed to delay some US Justice Department said in a filing. “Cono-
construction at the Willow oilfield on Alaska’s coPhillips’ concession on this schedule is not
North Slope until April 4 while a federal court an admission that any of the planned activities
considers whether to halt the work this winter. causes irreparable harm.”
The administration of President Joe Biden The employment of dozens of people may be
approved a scaled-back version of the $8bn delayed or halted. ConocoPhillips has around
project earlier this month. Two lawsuits were 40 staff to build the ice road and camps, but the On the North
quickly filed seeking to end the project over con- number will peak at 125 employees when the
cerns that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions gravel-related work starts, a ConocoPhillips Slope, major
would be too high. Critics have dubbed the pro- spokeswoman told the newspaper.
ject a “carbon bomb”. “We will stay at 40 until the preliminary construction
Environmental groups have now asked a fed- injunction is resolved,” said the spokeswoman.
eral judge for a preliminary decision to stop con- The plaintiffs says that the construction work occurs in the
struction work this winter at the Willow oilfield could harm or displace caribou and harm Native winter when the
on Alaska’s North Slope, shortly after the Biden caribou hunters.
administration approved the project. The 3-mile (4.8-km) ice road would take permafrost is
The developer, ConocoPhillips, has started around a week to build. It would run from the
building the ice road for Willow but agreed to gravel mine to an existing oilfield. The entire pro- frozen.
pause gravel mining and road building while ject is expected to take six years to build.
Judge Judge Sharon Gleason in the US District The Alaska legislature has agreed to join a
Court in Anchorage considers the request for a friends of the court ‘amicus’ briefing stating sup-
preliminary decision, according to the Anchor- port for the project.
age Daily News. “By joining this amicus brief, we send a clear
On the North Slope, major construction message that we will not be deterred by frivolous
occurs in the winter when the permafrost is fro- lawsuits and will continue to fight for the critical
zen. The construction season would normally projects that will benefit Alaskans for decades to
end on April 25. come,” said Alaska’s house speaker, Republican
“Any further delay would compromise or pre- Cathy Tilton, in a statement.™
vent the viability of the construction season,” the

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