Federal NPR-A lease sale hits record for revenues and tracts receiving bids

The US Department of the Interior’s Mar. 18 oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) hit records for most revenue generated at $164.7 million.

The sale—the first for the reserve since 2019 and the first since President Trump returned to office—offered 625 tracts across 5.5 million acres in the 23-milion acre reserve. The NPR-A 2019 lease sale generated $11.3 million.

Eleven companies submitted 430 bids on 187 tracts covering 1.33 million acres, the second most acreage sold in a single sale, Interior said in a press release.

The most active bidders included: North Slope Exploration LLC, winning 78 leases; Repsol E&P/Shell Frontier LLC with 43; ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. with 30; and Exxon Mobil Alaska with 24. Epoch Oil & Gas LLC won 8 leases, 7 of which were for over $1 million, including 2 at $3.65 million.

Repsol/Shell Frontier had the highest number of bids over $1 million, with 38, including 27 over $2 million.

“The Reserve was created to support our nation’s energy needs, and this successful sale demonstrates what’s possible when we align responsible development with that original purpose,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

State revenue boost, federal response

The State of Alaska will receive nearly $82 million, 50% of the bid receipts, with a portion of those proceeds benefiting North Slope communities through the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Impact Mitigation program.

Alaska’s congressional delegation, which spearheaded NPR-A’s inclusion in the oil and gas lease sale provisions in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, celebrated the results.  

“This is a great day for Alaska that further demonstrates the world-class energy potential across our North Slope,” Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) said in a statement. “The delegation has focused on the NPR-A not only because it is a petroleum reserve—one of the most obvious places to produce energy anywhere in the nation—but also because we knew that industry’s interest in this area is remarkably strong.

Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Ala.) added that the lease sale “is another clear sign that Alaska’s Comeback is underway.” He said the lease sale wasn’t historic just by the number of bids and revenue but “also in terms of the companies bidding, from some of the biggest energy companies in the world, to smaller aggressive wildcatters.”

The delegation also negotiated that the state would receive 70% of revenues, instead of 50%, starting in 2035.

The Biden administration did not hold a lease sale in NPR-A during its 4-year term. It also imposed an Integrated Activity Plan that closed nearly 50% of the reserve’s surface acreage to leasing and initiated a process to expand and created new “special areas” where development was barred.