The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Tuesday announced that it would hold annual lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) on December 11. The agency will offer 350 tracts covering an area of 3.98 million acres in a competitive bid.
The state of Alaska will also offer state submerged lands in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea and state land east of the NPR-A on December 9.
The tracts offered in the NPR-A are open to oil and gas development. ConocoPhillips has two small projects in development and another two which are currently producing.
Since 1999, BLM has held 14 oil and gas lease sales in the NPR-A, which generated more than $283 million. Currently, there are 215 leases in an area of 1.5 million acres in the NPR-A.
