Overview
- BLM held the first National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska lease sale since 2019, offering 625 tracts across about 5.5 million acres under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act mandate.
- Eleven companies bid on 187 tracts covering roughly 1.3 million acres, generating about $163 million in high bids, the highest revenue on record for an NPR-A sale.
- ConocoPhillips, Repsol, Shell and Frontier Oil and Gas were among the leading bidders, and state officials said Alaska will receive half of the high-bid receipts.
- U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason stayed the administration’s cancellation of a Nuiqsut right-of-way, and BLM said any lease issuances within that corridor will comply with the order.
- Industry interest in Alaska remains uneven as a Cook Inlet offshore auction earlier this month drew no bids, even as oil prices briefly topped $100 a barrel on Wednesday.