The oil auction in ANWR attracted few participants.
An online auction for oil and gas exploration licenses was held in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, but it attracted only limited interest from participants. Out of 58 available tracts, bids were submitted for just five, with the total amount of bids reaching $6.3 million.
Petrus
On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held an online auction for oil and gas exploration licenses in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. The refuge is the largest in the country and serves as a habitat for numerous protected Arctic species. The auction included only federal tracts on the ANWR coastal plain along the Beaufort Sea shoreline.
Two organizations participated in the bidding: the private company Hex Energy, LLC and the state agency Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). Of the 58 tracts offered, bids were submitted for five. As a result, AIDEA secured licenses for three tracts, while Hex Energy obtained two. The total amount of bids exceeded $6.3 million. Following the sale, BLM and the state of Alaska will each receive more than $3.7 million, to be split equally.
According to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, the ANWR coastal plain contains up to 12 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil, making it comparable to the largest oil fields in the country. However, this area has long remained undeveloped.
The ANWR auction attracted less interest compared to a recent sale of tracts in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), where about ten companies participated, including Shell, Repsol, and ConocoPhillips. The NPR-A sale brought the government over $132 million.
Under a Congressional mandate, BLM is required to hold at least four auctions for licenses on the ANWR coastal plain by 2035. The agency plans to continue the orderly and lawful development of these resources.