Trump administration holds record lease sale in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve

The administration of US President Donald Trump held an oil and gas lease sale this week in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The sale attracted $163.7mn in high bids, representing the most successful ever lease sale in the NPR-A. The result could help boost activity on Alaska’s North Slope.

The lease sale was the first to be held in the NPR-A since 2019, as well as the first under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), part of the US Department of the Interior (DoI), offered up 625 tracts across roughly 5.5mn acres (22,258 square km) for bidding in the sale. In response, 11 companies submitted 430 bids for tracts covering 1.3mn acres (5,402 square km), with 187 tracts leased. This equated to the most revenue generated ever from an NPR-A lease sale, the most tracts receiving bids and the second most acreage sold in a single sale.

Companies including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Oil Search Alaska, Repsol and Shell Frontier Oil and Gas were among those submitting bids.

“This is the strongest sale we have ever had in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska by nearly every measure,” the BLM’s state director in Alaska, Kevin Pendergast, was quoted by Anchorage Daily News as saying. “It makes clear that for the NPR-A, despite all the successes to date, the best days are still ahead.”

The lease sale included tracts in environmentally sensitive areas that had never before been put up for auction. Indeed, former US President Joe Biden had sought to restrict drilling for oil and gas in the NPR-A. However, the Trump administration has reversed course on this, opening 82% of the reserve up for potential leasing, as well as pledging to hold at least five lease sales there by 2035.

Anchorage Daily News noted that lawsuits have been filed challenging the lease sale and the BLM’s management of the NPR-A. Indeed, the newspaper cited a ruling this week from US District Court Judge Sharon Gleason under which a Native coalition’s land agreement, known as the Nuiqsut Trilateral right of way, would “remain in full force and effect”, at least for now. The DoI had cancelled that agreement in December, which is what prompted the lawsuit.

Despite the lawsuits, though, it seems oil and gas industry interest in the NPR-A is high. The reserve is home to ConocoPhillips’ Willow project, which is currently under development. Willow is anticipated to produce 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil at its peak, and this potential may well have boosted interest in what other opportunities may be available in the region.

The results from the auction also represent a contrast to the offshore lease sale held in Alaska’s Cook Inlet earlier this month, which received no bids. This could illustrate that it is comparatively easier to engage in onshore exploration and production in conditions as challenging as those found in Alaska. It could also indicate greater levels of optimism over the NPR-A’s potential. In any case, the State of Alaska will welcome an increase in oil and gas activity.