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  • Billions in revenue
  • ~2,500
    Construction jobs
    ~300
    Long-term jobs

Located on Alaska’s North Slope in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), the Willow project is estimated to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, decreasing American dependence on foreign energy supplies. The project is projected to deliver $8 billion to $17 billion in new revenue for the federal government, the state of Alaska and North Slope Borough communities. Willow will be built using materials primarily made and sourced in the U.S. and has the potential to create over 2,500 construction jobs and approximately 300 long-term jobs. The project is designed to support and coexist with subsistence activities with many mitigation measures built into the project design. Learn more.

ConocoPhillips welcomes the Department of the Interior’s recent Record of Decision (ROD) on the Willow project, adopting the three core pads detailed in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) preferred Alternative E. Willow is important for both Alaska’s economy and America’s energy security.

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Quick Facts about the Willow Project

Economic Benefits

1 Tax revenue assumptions based on Alaska Department of Revenue Fall 2021 Revenue Source Book ($60.66 per barrel average real ANS price) and U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management January 2023. Final Willow Master Development Plan Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. page 298. table 3.15.5.).

2 Represents 50% of federal royalty, the remaining 50% shown under NPR-A Impact Mitigation grant funds

Jobs Created

    • ~2,500

      Construction jobs

    • ~300

      Long-term jobs

    • ~75%

      of the anticipated total North Slope installation work hours will use union labor.

    • 9MM

      The proiect will require approximately 9 million work hours.

Resources Produced

  • Peak production

    ~180,000

    Barrels of oil per day

  • Peak production

    ~600MM

    Cumulative barrels of recoverable oil

Willow’s History

Project planning spanned five presidential administrations. ConocoPhillips acquired the first Willow area leases in 1999, during the Clinton administration, and began the development permitting process in 2018. Since then, the project has undergone nearly five years of rigorous regulatory review and environmental analysis, including extensive baseline scientific studies.

The Willow project complies with the 2022 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) Integrated Activity Plan (IAP), which was developed under the Obama-Biden administration. The IAP defines what acreage is available in NPR-A for oil and gas leasing and the stipulations attached to development.

The three core pads of Alternative E, approved in the March 2023 Record of Decision, represent a reduction in surface infrastructure and associated impacts, addresses stakeholder comments and enables a practical way forward for the project.

There was extensive public involvement in the Willow project, including more than 215 days of public comment and 25 in-person public meetings in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Nuiqsut, Utqiagvik, Atqasuk, and Anaktuvuk Pass.

  • 1999

    ConocoPhillips Acquired The First Willow Area Leases

  • 2018

    Began The Development Permitting Process

  • 2022

    ConocoPhillips Reliably Meets All Applicable Environmental Mandates

  • 2023

    March: The Department of the Interior Issues a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Willow Project, Adopting the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Preferred Alternative E.

    November: Alaska District Court upholds BLM ROD.

    December: ConocoPhillips Makes Final Investment Decision to Develop the Willow Project.

Resources

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