THE LINK: JULY 2023 15 the gravel in the newly installed road segment will continue,” she said. To date, ConocoPhillips has invested more than $700 million in Willow lease acquisition, exploration and appraisal drilling, engineering, environmental studies and permitting. “As we move towards FID we will continue placing long-lead material orders and finalize contract awards in support of the project. At this stage, we want to move the project forward to enable the State of Alaska and our key stakeholders to realize the benefits of responsible, sustainable resource development within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska,” or NPR-A, Boys said. Willow is in the NPR-A west of Alpine and other producing fields on the North Slope, which are on state lands. It is the latest, and largest, discovery made to date in the petroleum reserve. Two other smaller discoveries made by the company, GMT-1 and GMT-2, are now producing. Willow is eight miles west of GMT-2 and about 25 miles west of the Alpine field. Meanwhile, in a related development ConocoPhillips announced that funding has been approved for developing the Nuna project from the 3T drill site, as the Nuna pad is now designated, in the Kuparuk River Unit. The company acquired the Nuna acreage in 2019 from Dallas-based independent Caelus Energy, who made the discovery and had already constructed the gravel road and pad for drill site 3T. Project construction activities will begin this year and continue in 2024 with pipeline and on-pad construction, the company said. Drilling is anticipated to begin in late 2024 with the first oil production “The additional drilling opportunities we’ve identified at Nuna are a positive development that should increase oil production at Kuparuk. Our investment in this project was approved due to Alaska’s stable fiscal regime which is clearly working to promote new and ongoing investment.” — Erec Isaacson, President, ConocoPhillips Alaska CONTINUED on PAGE 16
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