KEEP Alaska Competitive

When Pikka hits full production of 80,000 barrels/day, it will be the second-largest producing field on Alaska’s North Slope.

“This is one of the most significant achievements on the North Slope in decades and further cements the region’s renaissance. Pikka will help refill the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, create great jobs for Alaskans and bring billions to the state over its lifespan — benefiting all who live here,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a news release.

“It will be the anchor asset that underpins our long-term growth,” said Bruce Dingeman, Santos’ Executive Vice President and President Alaska. “It’s a core growth pillar in Santos’ portfolio.”

Lawmakers, oil advocates and the industry call the production a “major milestone,” and predict roughly 400 full-time jobs. Santos expects Pikka to produce 400 million barrels of oil over its expected lifetime of 30 years.

While it’s large, it’s not huge like the legacy fields of the ‘70s.

“It’s not Prudhoe Bay,” said veteran journalist Larry Persily. Prudhoe Bay alone averaged roughly 202,600 barrels per day from 2019-2023 fiscal years, according to data from the Alaska Department of Revenue.

Still, if Pikka reaches the 80,000 barrels per day that Santos – and its partner Repsol – forecast, it would be the second-largest producing field in the state after Prudhoe Bay. At more than $3 billion, it’s also one of the most expensive.

Photo Credit: Santos

Some of the world’s largest oil companies are returning to explore in the Alaska Arctic as they seek to replenish reserves, diversify their portfolios and capitalize on Washington’s promotion of fossil fuels, writes the Financial Times of London. ExxonMobil, Shell and Repsol are among the producers that bid a record $163 million in March for leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, “an underexplored area estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to hold 8.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil.”

The return of ExxonMobil and Shell after an almost decade-long hiatus represents a success for the White House, which has relaxed environmental rules and expanded lease sales. This was especially true for Shell, “which relinquished a set of oil leases in an area of the North Slope, West Harrison Bay, that some observers say the company’s own geologists were salivating over,” wrote the Anchorage Daily News. The leases were Shell’s last majority-owned properties in the state, following its decision to give up a batch of federal offshore leases in 2016.

“Alaska is a fantastic opportunity,” said Francisco Gea, head of upstream at Repsol, whose joint venture with Shell secured the largest number of leases in the recent auction. The return of Shell and Exxon surprised industry experts. Shell said in 2015 it was ceasing exploration in Alaska for the “foreseeable future” after losing $7 billion on a failed offshore drilling campaign. Shell CEO Wael Sawan told the Financial Times the decision to return was driven by a desire to replenish the “funnel of opportunities” in areas where the group could differentiate its exploration, appraisal and development.

“It is a very, very, very different part of Alaska that we have gone to,” he said. “This is an onshore exploration opportunity in a very well-established basin that’s been producing for some time.” ExxonMobil has focused its exploration on other parts of the world over the past decade, particularly Guyana. Both companies have been tempted back to Alaska following major discoveries by independent U.S. wildcatter prospector Bill Armstrong, and the recent development of projects by ConocoPhillips and Santos/Repsol.

Santos and Repsol’s $4.5 billion Pikka project began operating last month and will increase production to 80,000 barrels a day, while ConocoPhillips’ $9 billion Willow project is expected to start up in 2029 and produce 180,000 barrels per day.

It didn’t quite go as planned – the first section of the Trans Alaska Pipeline that was installed 50 years ago on May 24.

Here’s the New York Times account: “Two weeks ago Alyeska flew newsmen and dignitaries to witness installation of the first buried pipe at the Tonsina River Crossing 75 miles north of Valdez. A portion of those 1,500 feet of steel later floated to the top of the river, but Alyeska blamed the complications on concrete-weighted collars designed to hold the pipe in place. The company said the situation was corrected a short time after it occurred."

And an account from Alyeska engineer, Bill Howitt, "An empty pipe is buoyant, so it had to be weighed down with a 7,000-pound horseshoe. If it isn’t done right, the pipe comes floating to the surface. The first pipe went in, and there were dignitaries all around (including Sen. Ted Stevens), and everybody clapped, and kind of walked away, and they were almost gone when the concrete weight slipped off, and she came up.”

It took about 2,000 welders – an elite group of craftsmen predominately affiliated with Pipeliners Local 798 – two years and about 71,000 field welds to turn more than 100,000 pieces of 40-foot pipe into the Trans Alaska Pipeline.

Less than five years after arriving in the Alaska oil patch, Australia's no. 2 oil and gas producer joined the elite ranks of North Slope producers.

Santos announced first oil from its Pikka phase 1 development over the weekend. The company is the operator of the project and holds a 51% interest, with partner Repsol holding the remaining 49%. Production will ramp up to 20,000 bbl/day over the next few weeks, capping at 80,000 bbl/day (gross) during the third quarter. Some 28 development wells have been drilled, of which 21 have been stimulated and flowed back in line with pre-drill expectations. First sales revenue is expected to be approximately two to three months following first oil, with Santos and its partner alternating tanker shipments from the Port of Valdez.

Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Gallagher, said Pikka is a tier-one asset in one of the world's super basins. "Alaska has a huge runway ahead of it, which will underpin value-accretive production growth for Santos.

"The Pikka phase 1 project has demonstrated Santos' capability to develop this world-class resource safely, responsibly and efficiently. We are already implementing technical drilling improvements that save time and cost, and we will continue to drive improved performance into the future.

"As we now take Pikka phase 1 into operations, we are transitioning from project ex*****on to our disciplined, low-cost operating model, which will maximize the project's value for our shareholders for the long term,” he said.

Photo Credit: Monica Sterchi-Lowman | Alaska Business

It was all smiles when ConocoPhillips held its first quarter earnings conference call.

- Willow construction now 50% complete
- All four of the planned winter exploration wells complete
- High-priority acreage secured in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska lease sale

In Alaska, ConocoPhillips is winding down another successful winter construction season. ... "Our teams have completed the project’s gravel scope, an important milestone, and mobilization for summer work is underway. We also recently completed our four-well exploration program in Alaska, the first in a multiyear program to leverage existing infrastructure to unlock additional low cost of supply resource consistent with our long-term track record,” said CEO Ryan Lance.

“It’s still early days but we are excited about the opportunity and the results and more low cost of supply resources coming to the greater Willow area,” he said.

“As the broader industry increasingly recognizes Alaska’s unique resource potential, we believe our long-standing position, legacy infrastructure investments and technical expertise provide us with a meaningful competitive advantage,” Lance said.

Photo Credit: © ConocoPhillips Company. 2026. All rights reserved.

When the bids were opened during last month’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), it set off a shout heard around the world. Coverage in the world’s top news outlets focused on the magnitude of the day – and what it means for the Alaska of tomorrow.

Some coverage:

Global energy leaders convened in Houston to attend CERAWeek by S&P Global, nicknamed the “Super Bowl of energy,” were talking about one thing: “a massive lease sale in the Arctic, a remarkable show of interest from global oil giants that had faded from Alaska’s frontlines and an emerging race to find deposits potentially worth billions of dollars. Industry proponents say a flood of crude from the largely undeveloped western Arctic, if companies can locate and produce it, could open a new era for the state’s industry,” wrote the Northern Journal.

A giant lease sale could launch a new era of oil on Alaska’s North Slope. Two huge companies thought to have little interest in Alaska investment, Shell and ExxonMobil, spent millions to buy new leases on the North Slope — though drilling still faces obstacles, writes States News Service.

The US Department of the Interior’s March 18 oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) hit records for most revenue generated at $164.7 million. The sale – the first for the reserve since 2019 —offered 625 tracts across 5.5 million acres in the 23-milion acre reserve. The NPR-A 2019 lease sale generated $11.3 million. Eleven companies submitted 430 bids on 187 tracts covering 1.33 million acres, the second most acreage sold in a single sale, Interior said in a press release.

The most active bidders included: North Slope Exploration LLC, winning 78 leases; Repsol E&P/Shell Frontier LLC with 43; ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. with 30; and Exxon Mobil Alaska with 24. Epoch Oil & Gas LLC won 8 leases, 7 of which were for over $1 million, including 2 at $3.65 million. Repsol/Shell Frontier had the highest number of bids over $1 million, with 38, including 27 over $2 million, wrote the Oil and Gas Journal.

It was a historic day for Alaska – but the good news is the best part is yet to come.

America asked for more reserves – and Alaska stood up and produced them.

Oil and gas producers operating in Alaska reported increases in proved reserves in 2024 at a time when low prices triggered a decrease in nationwide proved reserves, according to a recently released U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-End 2024 report. Alaska’s crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves increased 5%, and natural gas proved reserves increased nearly 7% in 2024, writes Steven Grape.

U.S. proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate totaled about 46 billion barrels at year-end 2024, a 1% decline from 2023. U.S. proved reserves of natural gas also fell, decreasing 3% to 584 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) at year-end 2024.

Proved reserves are operator estimates of oil and natural gas volumes that geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty are recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions.

The price of crude oil and natural gas can affect the reserve estimates, and lower prices in 2024 heavily influenced proved reserves estimates. Average spot prices for both crude oil and natural gas decreased in 2024 for the second year in a row. Average wholesale prices at the domestic benchmarks for West Texas Intermediate crude oil and Henry Hub natural gas fell by 1% and 13%, respectively, from 2023 to 2024.

But exploration and development in Alaska in 2024 increased, supporting upward revisions in reserves there despite the lower prices. Natural gas reserves increased from 97 Tcf in 2023 to 103 Tcf in 2024, and crude oil reserves increased from 3.0 billion barrels in 2023 to 3.1 billion barrels in 2024.

During 2024, ConocoPhillips’ Nuna project became operational and contributed to higher oil proved reserves in Alaska. Planned projects, including new wells at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska’s North Slope and new infrastructure to bring North Slope production to market, such as the Alaska LNG Project, could contribute to increasing proved reserves in the future.

You can read more here: www.eia.gov/naturalgas/crudeoilreserves/index.php.

Santos had yet to turn on its Pikka phase 1 development when it announced a major new find next door at Quokka.

The company says it successfully completed its Quokka-1 well, prompting plans for the development of “an oil project that could mirror the production of its Pikka Phase 1 operation,” Seeking Alpha reports. The company said Quokka-1 encountered a “high-quality reservoir with 143 feet of net oil pay in the Nanushuk formation, and an initial test achieved a flow rate of 2,190 bbl/day of oil.”

“Located strategically to the east of our Pikka phase 1 development, Quokka represents another high-return opportunity that strengthens our position on the North Slope and extends our development runway in Alaska for years to come,” Managing Director Kevin Gallagher said.

Santos controls a 51% operating interest in the unit with Repsol controlling the remaining 49%.

Learn more: seekingalpha.com/news/4573406-santos-makes-alaska-oil-discovery-begins-development-planning.

Photo Credit: Santos Ltd.

Hilcorp is doing what Hilcorp does best - busy breathing new life into old fields.

It more than doubled production at Milne Point, growing it from 19,000 barrels of per day to 51,000 in January - and now has its eye on 60,000.

State Oil and Gas Director Derek Nottingham told a legislative committee that it is "highly unusual to see an operator completely restoring production," in a mature field.

To the east, Hilcorp is drilling the first new well at Point Thomson since 2016.

The company plans to spend $175 million at Nikaitchuq , which Hilcorp calls its Oliktok Point project, to drill 13 new wells and install a polymer injection facility. It is expected to add 9,000 barrels per day of new production in first quarter 2026, writes Tim Bradner in The Link.

At Prudhoe Bay, the company has significantly slowed the decline and now has a new project underway there.

"The new Prudhoe Bay west end development, which Hilcorp calls its Project Taiga, involves two new production pads, O-Pad and I-pad, with front-end engineering currently underway. One pad will be in production in 2028 and the other in 2040, adding 40,000 barrels per day of new production. The expected investment by the Prudhoe Bay field owners is $2 billion. As at Oliktok, the west end development will target Schrader Bluff viscous oil resources," Bradner writes.

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