18 ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW SPRING 2025 New administration relaxes restrictions on federal lands exploration BY TIM BRADNER ALASKANS ARE OPTIMISTIC ON A NEW DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND ORDER OPENING AREAS TO OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION IN NORTHERN ALASKA. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued a new order in March relaxing restrictions on federal lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Trans Alaska Pipeline System corridor from the North Slope to Interior Alaska, as well as lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Burgum’s order generally restates announcements earlier from President Donald Trump on unleashing exploration and development in Alaska with a few more details, but not yet on specific actions planned. In the Arctic refuge, known as ANWR, the 1.56-million acre coastal plain was opened to exploration in 2020 under the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act and two lease sales were held. The leases were canceled by former President Joe Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. However, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason has ordered the leases restored. Gleason ruled Haaland did not have authority to cancel the leases. Another part of Burgum’s March order deals with the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the western North Slope. The Secretary announced in March that 82% of the reserve will be available for leasing. Currently, only about half of the NPR-A is available. This is important but it will take time to implement, and explorers will need more details. Federal geologists have said most of the large NPR-A, particularly the southern and western parts, have relatively little oil and gas potential, and companies have expressed little interest in those areas. The part of the petroleum reserve that is most attractive to industry is in the northeast where ConocoPhillips has made discoveries and is now developing its Willow project. ConocoPhillips holds a large block of existing federal leases in the area and has said it will be exploring those. Similarly, Australia-based Santos Ltd., which is now developing its Pikka discovery on state lands near the NPR-A, holds an extensive group of leases to the west in the federal reserve, which also has potential. Richard Garrard, the Alaska exploration geologist who is familiar with the region, believes the NPR-A has more potential for new and larger discoveries than ANWR, to the east. It also can be explored with less of the political complications and lawsuits that will come with reopening the coastal refuge, he said. While the northeast NPR-A areas near ConocoPhillips’ Willow project are of interest to companies, there have long been discoveries farther west along the coast that might now get more exploration. Also, a discovery at Smith Bay, on state-owned submerged lands, may get more work if the new federal government leadership eases restrictions for onshore pipeline corridors needed to transport any oil produced. One question, however, is whether OPTIMISM ABOUNDS ON INTERIOR LAND ORDER Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued a new order in March relaxing restrictions on federal lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Trans Alaska Pipeline System corridor from the North Slope to Interior Alaska, as well as lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Burgum’s order generally restates announcements earlier from President Donald Trump on unleashing exploration and development in Alaska with a few more details, but not yet on specific actions planned.
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