The ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. building in Anchorage is seen on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The international oil company ConocoPhillips has signed a $300 million deal to buy portions of the Kuparuk and Prudhoe Bay oil fields owned by Chevron USA.
ConocoPhillips announced the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, on Thursday.
Chevron has been seeking to sell its North Slope assets since at least 2022, and reporting by Northern Journal earlier this year showed that the company had been considering a sale to a small, independent Texas firm.
Pontem Alaska Midstream, the firm in question, failed to close that deal, records show.
ConocoPhillips’ purchase, announced this week, doesn’t include Chevron’s stake in the Endicott oil field, the company confirmed, and the status of that holding isn’t clear.
ConocoPhillips’ purchase comes amid a general withdrawal from the North Slope by other large oil companies, including BP — which sold to Hilcorp in 2020 — and Chevron.
The trend on the North Slope has been toward smaller, privately held oil companies like Hilcorp, but ConocoPhillips is a notable exception. It has invested heavily in the Willow oil project within the National Petroleum Reserve and this week completed delivery of a large oil production unit to Kuparuk.
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