ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., which received federal approval in October to proceed with the first oil and gas exploration within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, actively participated in separate federal and state lease sales in Anchorage on Nov. 19 (OGJ Online, Oct. 22, 2015).

The company submitted high bids totaling $788,680 for six high-potential tracts in the US Bureau of Land Management’s 2015 NPR-A lease sale, and $409,011 for three North Slope tracts at the Alaska Oil & Gas Division’s lease sale.

Winning bids among the 134 received in the state sale encompassing 186,400 acres totaled more than $9.5 million, the Alaska Natural Resources Department division said. “These results are very encouraging in light of the current low oil prices,” division director Corri Feige said.

BLM’s sale generated $788,680 of bid receipts, half of which will go to Alaska, the US Department of the Interior agency’s Alaska state office said. It noted that 143 tracts comprising about 1.4 million acres within the reserve were offered.

Contact Nick Snow at nicks@pennwell.com.