ConocoPhillips filed applications on July 14 to explore for more oil in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The company is seeking to drill four new test wells and carry out seismic studies near the site of its Willow project, which is currently under development. Bloomberg reported that if the new plans are approved, it would be ConocoPhillips’ largest exploration campaign since 2020.

The move is in line with a push by the company to diversify its portfolio against the backdrop of shale basins in the Lower 48 states becoming more mature. And Alaska looks like a more attractive prospect now given US President Donald Trump’s support for loosening regulations on the oil industry in an effort to boost domestic drilling.

Plans for new drilling in Alaska tend to run into strong opposition from environmentalists and the previous administration, under former US President Joe Biden, had moved to restrict drilling in Alaska, even though it also approved the Willow project in 2023. Now, proposals to explore and produce more oil in Alaska could move through the regulatory approval process with comparatively more ease.

“As we look out in the future, that’s an investment we want to keep full,” ConocoPhillips Alaska’s president, Erec Isaacson, told Bloomberg this week about the company’s plans in Alaska. It’s a matter of “going out and exploring now to ensure that we continue to have this pipeline of opportunities that we’re looking at to backfill our infrastructure in the future”, he said.

ConocoPhillips is asking the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to approve plans to drill three wells near its Bear Tooth Unit site, with one located about 11 miles (18 km) from the Willow site. The fourth well would be drilled further east, in the company’s Greater Mooses Tooth Unit site.

The proposed seismic surveys, meanwhile, would be carried out across 300 square miles (777 square km) to the south. ConocoPhillips is aiming to produce high-quality 3D surveys, which would update 2D studies that were conducted in the 1980s.

The Willow project is anticipated to produce 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil at its peak, with start-up targeted for 2029.