The bidding has been a flop, but perhaps it will pave the way for oil exploitation in northern Alaska’s sanctuary, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). On Wednesday January 6, while supporters of Donald Trump invaded the Capitol in Washington, Anchorage, the economic capital of Alaska, federal authorities rushed to auction off oil and gas concessions in the plains of northeastern Alaska. It was urgent: the process had to be carried out before the end of Donald Trump’s mandate, his elected successor, Joe Biden, having declared himself opposed to oil exploitation of federal lands in the Arctic.
Federal Deputy Home Secretary Katharine MacGregor called the auction a “success”. In fact, the US government only raised $ 14.4 million. Only eleven of the twenty-two lots on offer found buyers, for a total of 2,200 square kilometers. Most importantly, nine of these lots were purchased by the armed wing of the Government of Alaska, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (Aidea). None of the big three Alaskan producers, which are drilling in Prudhoe Bay (ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil, Hilcorp), have submitted an auction. Only two lots were bought by private players, the subsidiary of an Australian group 88 Energy and Knik Arm Services, owned by a certain Mark Graber, writes the Anchorage Daily News. These contracts have yet to be finalized.
Legal uncertainties
Large companies are reluctant to participate in such auctions: the pressure from environmental and climate defenders is too strong while the prospecting market is at its lowest with the Covid-19 crisis. In addition, there are criteria specific to Alaska: the exorbitant cost of drilling in these remote lands, the geological unknowns on the richness of the places – explorations carried out by BP in the 1980s remained confidential but they would not have been successful, according to a survey by New York Times.
Finally, there are legal uncertainties, while the opening of the area to exploitation is the subject of numerous appeals, on the part of the “Native Americans”, environmental associations and other American states. Impact studies conducted by the Trump administration are disputed. Finally, there is the arrival in power of Joe Biden, which could multiply the environmental and legal constraints, making de facto exploitation impossible.
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