THE LINK: OCTOBER 2023 15 scheduled to reply to ConocoPhillips and other defendants by mid-September, allowing Gleason to decide the case before the start of the winter construction season. If the case isn’t resolved by then and ConocoPhillips can’t work this winter, there is a risk the company could fail to meet the requirements of its land lease with the federal government. However, the company is optimistic. Andy O’Brien, ConocoPhillips’ Senior Vice President for Global Operations, said “the scope of the issues involved (in the lawsuits) are narrow and we believe the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has done a thorough review,” on issues raised by the plaintiffs. The lawsuits were filed by Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic, an Alaska tribal advocacy group, and the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based environmental group. Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic lists no address or phone number on its website. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips said in the filing it has invested $1 billion in Willow through July 2023, the company said in the Aug. 29 filing. If the judge rules favorably, another $900 million will be spent in the upcoming winter season. “Numerous contractors are presently fabricating equipment, such as the Willow operations center modules and pipe and culvert for road crossings,” the company said. About 1,800 people will be at work on Willow over the next year. One contractor, Nanuq, Inc., anticipates having 550 employees on Willow construction this winter. Nanuq is a subsidiary of Kuukpik Corp., the village corporation for Nuiqsut, an Iñupiaq village near the Alpine field on the slope. The project will employ 2,500 in Willow construction in total. O’Brien, ConocoPhillips’ senior vice president, also told the analysts in the company’s second quarter earnings call, that Willow’s cost is still estimated in the range of $7 billion to $7.5 billion. “Alaska has not seen the kind of inflationary pressures experienced in other areas, so we expect this to hold,” through five to six years of construction. Meanwhile, most North Slope communities are in support on Willow and some who initially filed actions supporting the lawsuit have withdrawn them. One example is the tribal council in Anaktuvuk Pass, an Iñupiaq village in the Brooks Range, filed a lawsuit and then reversed itself without explanation, a few days later. “The Naqsragmiut Tribal Council now files this Notice to inform the Court that the Council is withdrawing its previously filed Motion for Leave to File Amicus Curiae,” the tribe said in a three-sentence filing. An attorney with the Oregon-based public interest firm representing the tribal council, the Western Environmental Law Center, declined to comment. Most communities in the Arctic Slope region are supporters of the petroleum industry, which funds the region’s extensive government services. Willow is expected to hold as much as 600 million barrels of recoverable oil. If it proceeds, the deposit is expected to begin producing in 2029 and with a peak rate of 180,000 barrels per day, making a substantial addition to North Slope production that now averages about 480,000 barrels per day. — Tim Bradner
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==