ConocoPhillips will move forward with development of the Willow project in Alaska. This Final Investment Decision approves the project and funds construction needed to reach first oil. The decision follows the Department of the Interior 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.

When completed, Willow is estimated to produce approximately 600 million barrels across the lifetime of the project. According to the Bureau of Land Management, the Willow project is projected to deliver $8 billion to $17 billion in new revenue for the federal government, the state of Alaska and Alaska Native communities.

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. Willow will be built using materials primarily made and sourced in the US and has the potential to create more than 2,500 construction jobs and approximately 300 long-term jobs.

ConocoPhillips is Alaska’s largest crude oil producer and largest owner of exploration leases, with approximately 1.2 million net undeveloped acres at year-end 2022.

Willow is in the Bear Tooth Unit in the northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The original Willow discovery wells, Tinmiaq 2 and 6, were drilled on federal leases in early 2016. A project the size and scale of Willow hasn’t been developed on the North Slope since Alpine in the late 90s.

The company has proposed a new stand-alone production facility to develop the resource in the Willow area. Willow is estimated to produce in excess of 160,000 BOPD at peak.