Opening up NPR-A

Interior's BLM calls for tract nominations for upcoming 2025 oil and gas lease sale

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

On Oct. 22, Interior's Bureau of Land Management Alaska State Office issued a call for nominations and comments on all available unleased tracts in the upcoming National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska 2025 Oil and Gas Lease Sale. the first NPR-A lease sale since 2019 and the first sale under direction of President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The call for nominations also advances priorities in the Executive Order, Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential, and the associated Secretary's Order of the same name.

Instead of the 13.3 million acres available for leasing after a 2024 ban from the Biden administration, the Trump administration is taking steps to allow companies to lease more than 80%, or 18.58 million acres of the petroleum reserve.

The nominations will be made available for leasing this winter.

"Congress directed a program of expeditious leasing and development in the NPR-A to support America's energy independence, and that is more important today than ever," said BLM Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast in a statement. "This lease sale gets us back on track toward further exploration and development in the reserve, as Congress envisioned."

BLM rescinded the Biden administration's restrictions in June, saying doing so would "eliminate roadblocks to responsible energy production" insisted on under President Trump's energy dominance agenda.

Interested parties can nominate or comment on tracts until Nov. 21. BLM will formally announce the lease sale 30 days in advance, using the information gathered to determine which tracts to offer.

To identify tracts to nominate for leasing, follow instructions found on the BLM Alaska website at: https://www.blm.gov/ programs/energy-and-minerals/oil-and-gas/leasing/regional-lease-sales/alaska .

Nominations and/or comments should be mailed or emailed to: State Director, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office, 222 West 7th Avenue, 13, Anchorage, AK 99513-7504.

For additional information and the State Director's email address contact Wayne Svejnoha, BLM Alaska Energy and Minerals Branch Chief, Alaska State Office, at the address above or telephone 907 271-4407.

Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services.

Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your nominations and/or comments, you should be aware that your entire comment - including your personal identifying information - may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, BLM cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so.

ConocoPhillips expanding in NPR-A

As part of its negotiations with Biden's Interior Department to retain the much smaller Willow project, ConocoPhillips also relinquished rights to approximately 68,000 acres of its existing leasehold in NPR-A.

Since President Donald Trump was elected ConocoPhillips officials have talked about expanding in NPR-A, including increasing seismic and drilling, aligning with Trump's goal of increasing U.S. fossil fuel production.

The company applied for permits in July to conduct a three-dimensional geophysical winter seismic survey in NPR-A as part of its plans to drill exploratory wells near, and stepping out from, its Willow oil project.

The 3D seismic program would take place south of the Greater Mooses Tooth and Bear Tooth units to identify potential drilling sites and expand ConocoPhillips' Arctic operations.