The Trump administration rescinded restrictions on oil drilling in Alaska’s mammoth state petroleum reserve, reversing a move by former President Joe Biden that put an estimated 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil off limits.
The policy reversal finalized Thursday applies to the 23 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Biden in 2024, designated 13 million acres of the reserve as “special areas,” limiting future oil and gas leasing, while maintaining leasing prohibitions on 10.6 million acres of the NPR-A. The move complicated future oil drilling and production in the reserve, where ConocoPhillips is pushing to explore for more oil near its Willow project. Other active companies have included Santos Ltd., Repsol SA and Armstrong Oil & Gas Inc.
The US Interior Department had already reopened the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing, following a directive Donald Trump issued after his inauguration. Increasing US production of fossil fuels has been at the center of Trump’s energy agenda, starting with an early executive order compelling a host of policy changes meant to expand Alaska’s oil, natural gas and mineral development.
“This action restores common-sense management and ensures responsible development benefits both Alaska and the nation,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement, adding that the latest move would “strengthen American Energy Dominance and reduce reliance on foreign oil.”
Alaska has forecast that crude production from the reserve will climb to 139,600 barrels per day in fiscal 2033, up from 15,800 barrels per day in fiscal 2023.
The Interior Department announced last month it was opening the entire coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, some 1.56 million acres, to oil and gas leasing and planned to hold a lease sale this winter in the state petroleum reserve.
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