U.S. Weighs Restrictions in Alaska Oil Reserve

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The public is invited to weigh in on land management decisions in Alaska, including whether to adjust protections for a state petroleum area, the U.S. federal government announced.

The federal government already in April restricted about 13.3 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) from new oil and gas leasing, citing the need to protect aboriginal communities and the wildlife in the area.

Extending from the northwest slope of the Brooks Range to the Arctic Coast, the NPR-A encompasses roughly 23 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The agency on Friday said it would open a 60-day comment period for the public to weigh in on whether to update the boundaries of the protected areas, including the boundaries of the NPR-A, or even to create new ones.

"With the rapidly changing climate, the Special Areas are increasingly critical to caribou movement and herd health, as well as other wildlife, migratory birds and native plants," BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said. "We want to hear from the public to ensure we are managing the western Arctic's significant resource values in the right ways and right places."

The government already nixed the 210-mile Ambler Road project proposed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). The road would have spanned BLM-managed public lands with the aim of providing access to mining of critical minerals.

AIDEA accused President Joe Biden of waging an "illegal war on Alaska and its residents for political gain."

What's more, a warming climate makes it difficult to conduct upstream operations, because drilling pads and other infrastructure are only secure during the coldest months when the ground is frozen. On the other hand, less ice offshore makes it easier to bring equipment to the extreme north.

The latest decision on Alaska came just days after the state sued the federal government, arguing the cancellation of oil and gas leases robbed it of perhaps billions of dollars in revenue. And a recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City finds the industry fears tightened regulations more than the direction of the economy.

Alaska's 3.2 billion barrels of proved oil reserves are the fourth-largest in the U.S., though production is nowhere near rival basins. Production peaked at 2 million barrels per day (BBL/d) in 1988, but it has since declined as state fields mature.

Over the four-week period to July 5, Alaska averaged 397,000 BBL/d, compared to 12.9 million BBL/d for the Lower 48 states.

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