Alaska’s Untapped Oil Wealth Is Still Struggling to Find Investors
UK Sets January 2027 Deadline for Ban on Fuel Made From Russian Crude Financial markets are increasingly pricing… Felicity Bradstock is a writer and journalist based in Mexico City.
She writes for energy websites and covers several other industries, as well as writing… Alaskan oil and gas production has always been a complicated issue, as energy companies want to tap the region’s vast reserves and environmentalists fear irreparable damage to the vulnerable ecosystem.
The Biden administration introduced far-reaching protections in Alaska, aimed at preventing new oil and gas exploration and protecting the environment and wildlife.
However, since President Trump came into office last year, he has encouraged new fossil fuel development in the region.
Yet the response to the most recent energy auction suggests that energy companies remain hesitant to develop oil and gas operations in the Arctic.
Alaska’s oil production has fallen from a peak of around2 million barrels per dayin the 1980s to less than 430,000 bpd today, with production continuously declining since the early 1990s.
In 2024, then-President Bidenannounced plansto restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres of a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska to protect wildlife endemic to the region.
This marked a shift in direction after the Biden administration approved the $8 billion Willow Project by ConocoPhillips on Alaska’s remote North Slope in 2023.
However, in December 2025, Congress voted torepealthe Biden-era policy in a bid to restore leasing to the full Coastal Plain in support of President Donald Trump’s pledge to boost domestic energy development.
Trump has aimed to accelerate Alaska’s oil output as part of his energy-dominance agenda.
Upon his inauguration as president last January, Trump signed anexecutive orderaimed at attracting investment to develop the state’s oil and gas.
Recent tests of the region bore positive results for energy firms looking to develop Alaska’s untapped oil reserves.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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