VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 2 | JUNE 2026
won leases in the first ANWR lease sale, but the leases were canceled after President Joe Biden took office. AIDEA sued in a federal court and pre- vailed, resulting in the leases being restored. However, Biden's Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, blocked permits for exploration-re- lated activity, like seismic, on the leases. That policy changed when President Trump returned to office for his second term. Current Interior Secretary Doug Bur- gum approved plans for additional lease sales and told AIDEA it could resubmit plans for exploration on its existing leases, which cover 308,248 acres. Two Alaska Native corporations, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and Kakto- vik Inupiat Corp., are likely to plan explo- ration on a 92,000-acre enclave in ANWR that they own that were transferred under the federal Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. The two corporations would like to do further exploration of their lands and may now coordinate that with AIDEA’s program, Charles Lampe, President of Kaktovik Inu- piat Corp., said in briefings.
Major oil companies have been cool to ANWR exploration in the past because of political sensitivities to drilling in the Arctic refuge. Chevron and BP were interested in the area in the 1980s and drilled one explo- ration well on the Native-owned lands, but the results are still held confidential. It’s unknown how much interest com- panies will have in the new leasing. Major companies may still hold back because of public criticism and pressure from share- holders, but independent companies will likely bid. President Trump’s full-throated endorsement of Arctic drilling may help en- courage bidding. What encourages geologists about ANWR is the presence of petroleum-gener- ating systems known through oil seeps, and that reservoir-type rocks are seen through outcrops in the region. Also, the presence of potential underground formations that could hold oil is seen through limited seis- mic activity done in the 1980s. But there are also some divided opinions among geologists over ANWR’s potential. Many see the region as an eastward exten- sion of prospective state-owned lands fur-
ther west, where discoveries like the giant Prudhoe Bay field were made. However, others see the geology as different, which may cause caution. The main concern of skeptics is that while the major regional structure known as the Barrow Arch, that is further west and which created large oil reservoirs like Prud- hoe Bay, appears absent in ANWR. But it’s still likely some oil will be found in ANWR because of the proximity of near- by state lands where small oil discoveries have been made. Also, the large gas and condensate deposit at Point Thomson is near ANWR. Some of the structures seen in the ear- ly seismic work appear to be large, but only drilling will tell if they hold oil. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the refuge’s Coastal Plain could hold 5.7 billion to 16 billion barrels of technically recover- able oil. Only part of that will be economi- cally recoverable. AIDEA has said it does not plan to drill itself but will do seismic and other pre-drill- ing work, and then sublease the acreage to private companies for further development.
Photo Courtesy Department of the Interior
Alaska’s economic development agency owns oil leases at the northern edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
HVAC • PLUMBING & HEATING • CONTROLS • SERVICE & MAINTENANCE • CERTIFIED AIR BALANCING • UV LIGHTING ONE SOLUTION. ONE COMPANY.
AIDEA APPROVES MAJOR INVESTMENT IN ANWR
$190M development plan focuses on current, future oil and gas leases BY TIM BRADNER THE ALASKA INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND EXPORT AUTHORITY’S (AIDEA) BOARD HAS AP- PROVED $175 MILLION FOR DEVELOPMENT WORK ON SIX FEDERAL LEASES HELD BY THE AUTHOR- ITY IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (ANWR), THE FEDERAL RESERVE IN NORTHEAST- ERN ALASKA BELIEVED TO HAVE CONSIDERABLE POTENTIAL FOR OIL AND GAS DISCOVERIES. The AIDEA board approved the plan at
created the Arctic refuge, most of the refuge was set aside as wilderness, the most restric- tive federal land classification. However, Alaska’s congressional dele- gation succeeded in getting the northern coastal plain held out of the wilderness des- ignation for further study of its petroleum potential. Congress was also given sole au- thority to approve any leasing or drilling and national conservation groups mounted campaign to block action in Congress over four decades. Finally, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkows- ki succeeded in getting approval in 2019, during the first administration of President Donald Trump. AIDEA submitted bids and
its May 13 meeting, along with $15 million approved for the authority to bid for addi- tional leases in a June 5 federal lease sale. AIDEA’s six federal leases in the refuge are from a 2021 lease sale. The development work approved includes permitting and regulatory work on the six leases, which are the only leases existing in the coastal plain of the refuge, a 1.5-million-acre area in the northern part of ANWR thought to have the best potential for natural resource de- velopment. Exploration in the refuge has been a contentious issue for decades. Under the Alaska National Interest Lands and Conser- vation Act of 1980, a congressional act that
WWW.SHEETMETALINC.COM WE’RE MORE THAN JUST ALASKA'S PREMIER METAL FABRICATION FACILITY
30
31
www.AKRDC.org
ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW JUNE 2026
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator