The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Aug. 13 released a final environmental impact statement for ConocoPhillips unit and project proponent ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.'s master development plan for the Willow oil and gas prospect within the Bear Tooth Unit of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

The Willow project comprises the construction, operation and maintenance of an oil and gas development and is expected to have a peak production of more than 160,000 barrels of oil per day, with a processing capacity of 200,000 bbl/d of oil. Over its 30- to 31-year life span, the project is anticipated to produce approximately 586 million barrels of oil and is expected to help offset production declines from the North Slope oil fields, the bureau, or BLM, said.

In its final environmental impact statement, the BLM said the Willow master development plan does not present a unique or unusually high likelihood of large spills. Issues identified during scoping included potential impacts on caribou and other wildlife species, as well as subsistence use. The statement proposed best practices and mitigation measures to avoid or minimize potential environmental effects and provided three action alternatives with potential impacts per alternative.

If the development plan is approved, ConocoPhillips Alaska will be allowed to submit permit applications for up to five drill sites, a central processing facility, an operations center pad, up to 385.5 miles of pipelines, ice and gravel roads, one to two airstrips and a gravel mine site on federal land in the state's petroleum reserve.

The BLM plans to issue a record of decision for the Willow development plan no sooner than 30 days after the final environmental impact statement's publication.

The BLM published the draft environmental impact statement for the Willow project in August 2019.