Willow will add 180,000 barrels per day at its peak ConocoPhillips Alaska is off to a good start in building its Willow oil project on the North Slope. “We are wrapping up a successful first major winter construction season,” said Erec Isaacson, the company’s president, said May 2 in a statement on progress at Willow. “Significant achievements this winter include gravel road and pad construction, vertical support member installation, bridge construction, and progressing the fabrication of the Willow Operations Center. We are also advancing the Nuna project in the Kuparuk River Unit which is projected to see first oil in early 2025.” Capital expenditures, much of it on Willow, totaled $720 million in the first quarter of 2024, according to ConocoPhillips’ statement on quarterly Alaska performance. In a May 2 earnings call with analysts, Kirk L. Johnson, the company’s Senior Vice President of Global Operations, said ConocoPhillips was able to successfully build out seven miles of gravel road and 30 acres of gravel pads for future facilities during the season. “We’ve successfully constructed all of the pipelines that we planned for this winter season. In addition, module fabrication has continued to progress well this winter and spring,” Johnson said. “We still expect to be in the range of $1.5 billion (on Willow) for 2024 and the progress we’re making gives us confidence to keep our estimate on total capital to first production as unchanged. We’re still in that $7 billion to $7.5 billion range,” for the total project,” Johnson said. When completed Willow will add 180,000 barrels per day at peak production for the North Slope starting in 2029. ConocoPhillips and its contractors had 1,800 employed on Willow construction this winter, he said. The activity is keeping contractors and suppliers busy. Nate Andrews, Alaska vice president for Delta Constructors, said his company has ConocoPhillips projects in the Kuparuk River Unit and the Colville River Unit, where the Alpine field is located. Many of those are needed to support Willow production when it comes online. There are other developments www.AlaskaAlliance.com 15 Photos by Judy Patrick CONTINUED on PAGE 16
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