Alaska Open For Business As Trump Moves to Reverse Biden Era Oil and Gas Restrictions
Wildlife in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. (Source: BLM)
The Trump Administration plans to open up large swaths of land on Alaska’s North Slope to oil and gas exploration. The proposed change would undo policy protections put in place by the Biden Administration which blocked or limited exploration across the entire Alaska National Petroleum Reserve.
Parts of Alaska’s Arctic tundra will reopen for oil and gas exploration based on a proposed rule change by the Trump Administration. The reversal of the Biden-era ban would unlock the majority of the estimated 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the Alaska petroleum reserve.
The news comes as part of a delegation of Trump officials visiting the state over the weekend.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made the announcement during a town hall event in Utqiagvik on Alaska’s Chukchi Sea coast. He was accompanied during his visit by Energy Secretary Christ Wright and Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin.
The National Petroleum Reserve Alaska is a vast, 23 million acre area – around a quarter the size of Norway – in the state’s northwest corner.
The NPR-A, as it is known, is separate from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has also undergone a seesaw of drilling-related policies over the years, with Trump opening the area for lease sales and the Biden Administration subsequently cancelling them.
Both Presidents Obama and Biden did approve licenses
Policies change with each administration
Trump’s decision concerning NPR-A follows a familiar pattern with democratic administrations generally enhancing the protections against further hydrocarbon exploration in onshore and offshore areas in the state, with republican counterparts reducing them.
Though both Presidents Obama and Biden did approve licenses, the former giving the go ahead for the Greater Mooses Tooth project, and the latter greenlighting the Willow project; both in the NPR-A and operated by ConocoPhillips.
President Biden reinstated the Obama-era restriction lifted by Trump in 2020. Shortly before leaving office, Biden further limited lease sales and exploration on 13 million acres of the reserve in 2024, adding to the 10.6 million acres already off-limits.
Reverse the decline
The proposed reopening of the NPR-A is forecasted to reverse the long-standing trend of declining oil production on Alaska’s North Slope.
The Trans-Alaska-Pipeline System carried around 464,784 barrels per day to southern Alaska in 2024. A substantial decrease from the 2.1 million barrels in 1988.
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In 2023 the Reserve contributed around 16,000 barrels to that total, a figure which could rise to close to 140,000 barrels by 2033 according to Alaskan state forecasts.
Split issue
State officials, who have long decried federal meddling in Alaska’s resource policy, welcomed the news, with local officials and Alaska Native groups often split on the issue.
Environmental groups and advocates derided the decision, pointing out that the reserve was originally created more than a hundred years ago to function as a source of fuel to the U.S. Navy during times of emergency.
They highlighted that with oil production flowing at record levels across the lower 48 states – the U.S. became the world’s largest oil producer in 2018 – there was little need to tap into these remaining reserves in a highly environmentally sensitive region like Alaska’s Arctic tundra.
The Administration’s announcement starts the standard 60 day comment period, with final action expected to follow shortly thereafter.
