Alaska Oil Lease Sale Draws 430 Bids, Nets Record $163.7 Million in Revenue

The U.S. Department of Interior’s first oil lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska since 2019 drew more than 430 bids during a March 18 auction that netted $163.7 million.

It was a record amount for a federal public lands lease sale.

At least 10 companies participated in the hours’ long auction, bidding on tracts that span 1.3 million acres of the 5.5 million acres the Trump administration has opened to oil and gas exploration on the 23 million-acre reserve.

More than 13 million of those acres were placed off limits from oil and gas leasing by the Biden administration as part of its March 2024 decision to allow ConocoPhillips to proceed with its $8 billion Alaska Willow Project within the reserve.

Under President Donald Trump’s day one “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” executive order issued in January 2025, federal agency officials were directed to “expedite the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects” in the reserve and in the 19.6-million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The executive action and subsequent Department of Interior regulatory revisions make 82 percent of the reserve potentially available to oil exploration, including areas near Teshekpuk Lake, the North Slope’s largest lake, which is used by migrating caribou that support Alaska Native subsistence hunters.

Bids for 10-year leases, orchestrated by the Bureau of Land Management, that could lead to, but don’t guarantee, oil and gas development, were submitted by major oil corporations such as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Shell subsidiary Repsol/Shell Frontier Oil.

Among lesser-known participants—most from Texas and Alaska—were Oil Search Alaska, Peritas LLC, Beacon Land Management, North Slope Exploration, EPIC Oil and Gas, HEX Cook Inlet LLC, and Borealis Alaska.

Several leases drew up to six bids with winning offers topping $2.2 million. Repsol/Shell Frontier Oil often secured the most coveted tracts with bids that far exceeded rivals, and ConocoPhillips notched dozens of tracts without competing bids.

“Today’s lease sale underscores the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s vital role in strengthening America’s energy security while fueling economic growth across Alaska,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement.

“The reserve was created to support our nation’s energy needs, and this successful sale demonstrates what’s possible when we align responsible development with that original purpose,” he added. “Revenues from these leases will help bolster local communities, create good‑paying jobs, and ensure that Alaska continues to be a cornerstone of America’s domestic energy production.”