Biden signals he will not block Willow oil project on slope

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief May 26 in an Alaska federal court in defense of the Trump administration’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ planned Willow oil project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Alaska U.S. senators Lisa Murkowsi and Dan Sullivan said the move is significant because it signals that the Biden administration will not block Willow, a $6 billion dollar project now in advanced development, despite Biden’s earlier statements that he will not support oil development on federal lands.

Conservation groups have filed lawsuits challenging the adequacy of BLM’s Record of Decision on Willow and U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason put a hold on the project until a court hearing planned for this summer.

Sullivan, speaking with Murkowski in a press conference, said U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haas also told him she will not oppose the remaining federal permits needed for Willow if the government’s approval is upheld by the court.

Murkowski said in the press conferences that the justice department decision recognizes the thorough vetting of Willow over several years by multiple federal administrations.

“The Willow leases in NPR-A were originally issued under the Clinton administration. The environmental review was begun under Obama and completed under Trump,” Murkowski said.

The DOJ decision illustrates that the new administration is willing to listen and have an open mind, considering projects on a case-by-case basis, the senator said.

There were concerns earlier that the announcements by Haas that the new administration would be reviewing actions taken during the Trump administration would lead to a hold on Willow.

If developed Willow would produce about 120,000 barrels per day and would be completed in late 2025 or 2026 under ConocoPhillips’ current schedule. It is one of three discoveries ConocoPhillips has made in an area of the northeast NPR-A west of state-owned lands and the producing Alpine field, where ConocoPhillips is the owner and operator.

The company’s other discoveries are smaller than Willow and include GMT-1, which is now producing, and GMT-2, now in the final stages of construction and set to begin producing later this year.

Sullivan said in the press conference that the development of oil and gas processing facilities and pipeline for Willow would put infrastructure in place that will lead to development of other discoveries that have already been made in the area. One of these, also by ConocoPhillips, is “Willow West,” located a few miles to the west of Willow.

The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is a 23-million-acre federal enclave in the western North Slope west of currently producing fields, which are on state lands. The reserve was originally created in 1923 by President Warren Harding as a potential oil reserve for the U, S. Navy, but no exploration was done until after World War II.

Over several decades of intermittent drilling by federal agencies only one small oilfield was found, which proved uneconomic to develop, as well as a gas field that now supplies has to the Inupiat community of Utqiagvik, in the far north of the reserve.

Leasing to private companies began in the 1980s but it was still years before ConocoPhillips’ exploration resulted in commercial discoveries that are now being developed.