ConocoPhillips flies to Midland the week the Alaska LNG pipeline deal closes

ConocoPhillips flew from San Angelo to Midland on June 9, a 275-mile hop that placed its ERJ-145XR squarely in the Permian Basin on a day when the company’s Alaska division was the center of the energy news cycle. The flight arrived the same week Glenfarne Alaska LNG announced a 30-year gas sales agreement with ConocoPhillips Alaska — the missing piece of commercial support needed for a final investment decision on Phase One of the Alaska LNG pipeline, per a May 18 report in Energy News Beat.

The deal locks in supply from all three major North Slope producers and targets first gas delivery to Alaskans by 2029, using a 739-mile pipeline that will largely follow the route of the existing Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. During ConocoPhillips’ first-quarter earnings call on April 30, executives confirmed Willow is 50% complete and noted they are evaluating a four-well winter exploration program that found hydrocarbons, suggesting the company is moving aggressively to feed that new infrastructure.

The flight also fits a pattern. ConocoPhillips’ corporate shuttle has been working Permian-area airfields frequently in recent days — Midland, San Angelo, and Bartlesville have all appeared on the tracking log — reflecting the operator’s ongoing focus on Lower 48 drilling and the Delaware Basin, which produced 1.45 million boe/d in the first quarter, per the company’s earnings release.