The Willow project is in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The project would have peak production in excess of 160,000 barrels per day with a processing capacity of 200,000 bpd, BLM said. It has an anticipated 30-year life, with a total of some 590 million barrels of oil over that period.
BLM has identified Alternative B and Module Delivery Option 3 as the preferred alternative, allowing for construction of up to five drill sites and associated processing and support facilities, including gravel roads and pipelines. BLM said the alternative incorporates modifications to reduce impacts.
Alternative B is the ConocoPhillips' proposal.
BLM said a record of decision will be signed no sooner than 30 days after publication of the final EIS notice of availability in the Federal Register.
Once the ROD has been signed, ConocoPhillips can submit applications to build the drill sites, a central processing facility, an operations center pad, gravel roads, ice roads and ice pads, an airstrip, a freshwater reservoir, an ice bridge across the Colville River to transfer facility modules into NPR-A, pipelines and a gravel mine site.
ConocoPhillips said in July that it expects a final investment decision on the project in 2021 and first oil in 2025-26.
- KRISTEN NELSON
See story in Aug. 23 issue, available online at PetroleumNews.com on Friday, Aug. 21.
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