ConocoPhillips seeks looser Willow drilling rules; hearing window open

ConocoPhillips is asking Alaska to ease the rules governing how it drills the Willow oil project — and Alaskans have until Sept. 22 to force a public hearing before the state can sign off.

The company filed two requests with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission last month. The first would change how drilling permits are handled at Willow and cut back on what the company has to measure and report — what the state calls "pool rules," generally used to streamline permitting and reduce data collection where regulators decide more data wouldn't add much. The commission's notice doesn't say which specific regulations would be relaxed.

The second request is the more consequential one. It would let ConocoPhillips inject fluids underground across a wide area — both to boost oil recovery and to temporarily store fluids produced during early well cleanup, before the permanent processing facilities are built. In plain terms, it's authority to put fluids into the ground before the plant that would normally handle them exists.

Willow is well along. ConocoPhillips plans to develop it from three drill sites, drilling 126 wells in 2027 and 2028, with first oil expected in early 2029; the state's most recent forecast put the project more than half built.

If no one files a written request for a hearing by 4:30 p.m. Sept. 22, the commission can issue its order without one. A hearing is tentatively set for Nov. 4 if requested, and comments on both applications are due Oct. 6.

The project itself remains contested close to home. The Native Village and City of Nuiqsut — the community nearest Willow — oppose it over consultation, health and subsistence concerns, while the regional Native organization Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat supports it as consistent with regional priorities and economic development. No opposing filing appears yet in the record for these two specific requests.