ConocoPhillips books $104 million in unfinished Alaska well costs, without saying what was found

ConocoPhillips added $104 million to the cost of unfinished Alaska exploration wells in the first half of 2026 without telling investors which wells they are or what they found. The filings place the drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the federal reserve on the North Slope, and go no further.

The company's quarterly report, filed August 6, said the capitalized cost of suspended wells reached $347 million at June 30, up from $243 million at the end of 2025. "The increase was primarily due to multiple wells drilled in Alaska," the filing said. A suspended well is one whose drilling costs stay on the balance sheet instead of being charged against earnings.

A well judged noncommercial is written off as a dry hole and charged against earnings. A well whose costs stay capitalized is one the company continues to evaluate for commercially producible reserves. These costs stayed on the balance sheet.

The filings do not say how many wells were drilled. In its annual report filed February 17, ConocoPhillips said it was "continuing our exploration activities in the NPR-A with a planned four-well drilling program this 2026 winter season." That is the only place the number four appears. The later quarterly reports use the word multiple, name no wells, place them no more precisely than the reserve, and describe no results.

Alaska capital spending fell while the exploration balance rose. ConocoPhillips invested $1,861 million in Alaska in the first six months of 2026, against $2,032 million a year earlier, a drop of about 8 percent. Spending fell in both quarters. Alaska earnings ran the other way, reaching $816 million for the six months against $462 million a year earlier.

Capitalized Alaska wells have sat a long time before. The annual report lists two Alaska projects carrying exploratory costs for more than a year as of December 31: West Willow at $30 million and Narwhal Trend at $25 million, both suspended since the 2018 to 2020 period. Neither has produced a development decision, though the company footnotes West Willow as having additional appraisal wells planned and Narwhal Trend as complete on appraisal drilling, with costs still being incurred to assess development. Company-wide, 13 projects carried suspended costs beyond a year at the end of 2025, totaling $133 million of the $243 million suspended balance.

There is a route to what the filings withhold, and ConocoPhillips went to court to block it. Alaska law requires the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which issues the drilling permits and holds the well reports, to keep well data confidential for 24 months and then release it. When that period ran out on earlier ConocoPhillips wells in the reserve, the company sued, arguing federal law governing the reserve preempted the state disclosure rule. A district court agreed. On May 27 the Ninth Circuit reversed. The Alaska Department of Law said the court agreed "that State laws requiring disclosure of oil well data are not preempted by federal law."

Nuiqsut and other communities along the Colville River sit nearest the drilling front. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, a former mayor of Nuiqsut and founder of Grandmothers Growing Goodness, has said disruptions to migratory routes from fossil fuel projects can be devastating for Iñupiat subsistence hunters who rely on animals such as moose and caribou. Development decisions would run through Willow, where production is anticipated in 2029.