Page 11 - NorthAmOil Week 07 2021

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

Another Willow setback for ConocoPhillips

ALASKA US oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips has on-the-ground work at Willow for the year, a
experienced another setback to its plans for ConocoPhillips spokeswoman, Natalie Low-
developing the Willow oil discovery in the man, told the Anchorage Daily News. This is
National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). because winter activity at developing projects on
On February 13, a two-judge panel from the Alaska’s North Slope can only last until the ice
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emer- roads melt in the spring.
gency order halting winter work at the site, which Lowman did not tell the newspaper whether
would include mining gravel and starting to ConocoPhillips was planning to appeal against
build a gravel road. the latest decision.
This followed a temporary injunction to pre- The Ninth Circuit judges noted that Willow’s
Winter activity at vent the work from going ahead, issued by US opponents, who had requested the order, also
developing projects on District Judge Sharon Gleason earlier this month had a good chance of winning their underlying
Alaska’s North Slope (See NorthAmOil Week 06). The Ninth Circuit lawsuit challenging the environmental review of
can only last until the Court’s order now halts the work ConocoPhillips the project, carried out by the administration of
ice roads melt in the would have carried out until the court can rule former US President Donald Trump.
spring. on an appeal in the case. According to a Center The new administration, under US Pres-
for Biological Diversity lawyer, Kristen Monsell, ident Joe Biden, is already taking a tougher
who was cited by the Anchorage Daily News, the line on environmental concerns. Given Bid-
court has expedited the appeal under a schedule en’s immediate cancellation of the Keystone
that allows briefings to conclude in April. The XL oil pipeline upon taking office, as well as
court will likely not rule on the appeal until at steps announced to review his predecessor’s
least sometime in May, according to that sched- oil and gas policies, the fate of other projects
ule, Monsell said. approved by the Trump administration looks
The judges’ decision is expected to halt far from certain.™

Occidental declares force

majeure on freezing weather

PERMIAN BASIN OCCIDENTAL Petroleum told buyers this Pioneer Natural Resources, which became the
week that it would be forced to curtail deliver- largest Permian producer following the com-
ies of crude owing to disruption resulting from pletion of its merger with Parsley Energy in
extremely cold weather in Texas. (See: Extreme January.
cold causes major disruption in Texas and beyond, Occidental has declined to comment on its
page 4) The company issued a force majeure force majeure, but Bloomberg reported that the
notice that was seen by Bloomberg, and was said company also expects curtailments of down-
to be the first such notice to be put out by a major stream shipments because of limited deliveries
operator in the Permian Basin. into Midland, Houston and Corpus Christi,
Occidental – the second-largest oil producer Texas.
in the Permian – attributed its curtailments to It was reported separately that Occidental’s
extreme weather disrupting transportation chemical division, OxyChem, had declared force
facilities and forcing delays in the receipt and majeure on all products it makes across the poly-
delivery of oil by carriers. It said in the notice vinyl chloride (PVC) production chain owing to
that it was unsure how long the restrictions the impact sub-zero temperatures on its petro-
would last. chemical plants. The company was reported to
The company also postponed the release of have shut down all of its Texas plants, with other
its fourth-quarter results because of the dis- Gulf Coast operators doing the same.
ruption in Texas, having originally been due The Permian is estimated to be the hardest
to report them on February 16. The results will hit oil production region as weather-related
now be released on February 22. For the third outages continue. Total US oil production losses
quarter of 2020, Occidental reported average are estimated to have peaked at 3mn bpd earlier
Permian production of 420,000 barrels per day this week, averaging 2mn bpd over the course of
(bpd). The company was recently overtaken by several days.™

Week 07 18•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11