ConocoPhillips Makes FID on Willow in Alaska - Rigzone News

ConocoPhillips Makes FID on Willow in Alaska | Rigzone

ConocoPhillips Makes FID on Willow in Alaska

ConocoPhillips has made a final investment decision on its Willow project in Alaska, approving the project and allotting funds for the construction needed to reach first oil production.

The decision follows the Department of the Interior's March 2023 Record of Decision and recent positive court orders, including this week’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denial of plaintiffs’ request for an injunction, the company said in a news release Friday.

When completed, Willow is estimated to produce approximately 600 million barrels across the lifetime of the project. Designed to support and coexist with subsistence activities on Alaska’s North Slope, the Willow project underwent five years of rigorous regulatory and environmental review, according to the release. Willow will be built using materials primarily made and sourced in the USA and has the potential to create over 2,500 construction jobs and approximately 300 long-term jobs, ConocoPhillips said.

“We are excited to reach this significant milestone”, ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance said. “With this project authorization, we’ve begun winter construction and Alaskans have started to receive the benefits from responsible energy development”.

“We are grateful for the many supporters who advocated for Willow. Alaska Native communities and groups, especially those closest to the project on the North Slope, continually provided input that helped shape this project. We also appreciate the unwavering support from Alaska’s bipartisan Congressional Delegation – Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Mary Peltola – the state legislature and organized labor groups”, Lance added. “Our employees and the contractor community have dedicated years to designing a project that will provide reliable energy while adhering to the highest environmental standards”.

In November, Alaska-based US District Judge Sharon Gleason upheld the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow project, rejecting the appeals of environmentalists who said it would endanger wildlife and accelerate climate change. The Interior Department approved the project in March after a lobbying battle.

Environmental and indigenous groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic, argued the government violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws by failing to consider the full impacts of the project on climate change and species in the region. However, the groups failed to prove the agency disregarded better available scientific evidence about the impacts of greenhouse-gas emissions from the project, Gleason said, according to an earlier report.

“This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation”, Lance said in November. “Willow fits within the Biden Administration’s priorities on environmental and social justice, facilitating the energy transition and enhancing our energy security, all while creating good union jobs and providing benefits to Alaska Native communities”.

“Willow underwent nearly five years of rigorous regulatory review and environmental analysis, including extensive public involvement from the communities closest to the project site”, ConocoPhillips Alaska President Erec Isaacson said in a statement. “We now want to make this project a reality and help Alaskan communities realize the extensive benefits of responsible energy development”.

The Willow project is projected to deliver between $8 billion to $17 billion in new revenue for the federal government, the state of Alaska and North Slope Borough communities, according to ConocoPhillips.

To contact the author, email rocky.teodoro@rigzone.com

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