Page 4 - NorthAmOil Week 11 2023

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

ConocoPhillips’ Willow project

approved, more of Arctic off-

limits to oil leasing

The Biden administration has approved a scaled-down version of ConocoPhillips’

Willow project while making more of the US Arctic off-limits to drilling

ALASKA THE administration of US President Joe Biden 9.2mn tonnes per year (tpy) of GHG emissions.
has approved a scaled-back version of Cono- However, concern over emissions from the
WHAT: coPhillips’ $7bn Willow project in Alaska, the project was outweighed by the administration’s
A scaled-back version US Department of Interior (DoI) said on March drive to raise domestic energy production, cre-
of ConocoPhillips’ $7bn 13. As a compromise, the administration put ate jobs and boost energy security.
Willow project has been more of the US Arctic off-limits to oil and gas The approval was welcomed by some.
approved by the Biden drilling at the same time. “This was the right decision for Alaska and
administration. Nonetheless, there is opposition to Willow our nation,” said ConocoPhillips’s CEO, Ryan
going ahead, unsurprisingly. At least two law- Lance. The company had already accepted that
WHY: suits have already been filed by critics of the it would have to proceed with the scaled-back
Biden has been under project, seeking to halt it. Indeed, environmen- version of Willow.
pressure because of high talists had lobbied hard to prevent the project’s “Willow fits within the Biden administration’s
gasoline prices and from approval, saying that for Biden to green-light priorities on environmental and social justice,
the bipartisan Alaska Willow would contravene his climate and clean facilitating the energy transition and enhanc-
Congressional delegation, energy ambitions. ing our energy security, all while creating good
and ConocoPhillips would The DoI has approved a version of the Willow union jobs and providing benefits to Alaska
also likely have contested project with just three drill sites. ConocoPhil- Native communities,” continued Lance.
a rejection. lips had proposed up to five drill pads and roads “This will mean jobs and revenue for Alaska,”
and pipelines. This came after the DoI had pre- said US Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski,
WHAT NEXT: viously said the three-pad version was the pref- a Republican, who had lobbied hard for the
The Biden administration erable option because of the project’s projected project.
has also made more of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “I feel the people of Alaska have been heard,” The DoI has
the US Arctic off-limits to When Biden campaigned for the US pres- US Congresswoman Mary Peltola, a newly
drilling for oil and gas. idency, he pledged to end oil and gas drilling elected Democrat and Alaska Native, told approved a
on federal land. And earlier this month, White reporters. “The state of Alaska cannot carry the version of the
House officials had even circulated proposals for burden of solving our global warming issues
Willow with two pads, not three. The approval alone.” Willow project
therefore represents a better outcome for Cono- Most indigenous tribes support the project,
coPhillips than the company might have seen. which backers estimate will create around 2,500 with just three
Indeed, it appears to be an attempt to strike a jobs and up to $17bn in federal revenue.
balance between Biden’s environmental goals Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips in return has drill sites.
and calls for higher domestic production for the agreed to give up its rights to around 68,000
sake of energy security. acres (275 square km) in the NPR-A.

New production Restrictions
ConocoPhillips has said that the Willow pro- The DoI also will issue a rule-making to restrict
ject, which is located on the North Slope in the future oil and gas development in the NPR-A
National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), is by considering extra protections for “ecologi-
expected to produce an estimated 180,000 bar- cally sensitive” designated special areas covering
rels per day (bpd) of oil at its peak 13mn acres (52,609 square km). This includes
The Biden administration has estimated that Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon Peard Bay,
burning the oil extracted from Willow – 600mn Teshekpuk Lake and the Utukok Uplands spe-
barrels of crude over 30 years – would result in cial areas.

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