ConocoPhillips flies from North Slope to Midland after Willow winter season

ConocoPhillips flew from Buffalo Grass Airport on Alaska's North Slope to a private airstrip near Midland, Texas on June 10, a 34-minute hop that connected the company's marquee Arctic project to its Permian basin heartland. The flight arrived the same week ConocoPhillips is transitioning from a successful winter construction season at Willow — where crews completed gravel work and mobilized for summer operations, per the company's first-quarter earnings call on April 30 — to the Permian's year-round drilling program.

The Willow project has reached 50% completion and exploration drilling added new prospects, as reported by Petroleum News on May 10. Meanwhile, the Permian remains the company's highest-return asset, with capital spending guided at $12-$12.5 billion for 2026. Moving personnel directly from the North Slope to West Texas reflects ConocoPhillips' practice of deploying its in-house fleet — N284CP, an ERJ-145XR typically used for crew shuttles between Anchorage and the oil fields — to keep executives and engineers close to active operations across its portfolio.

The company's recent flight patterns show frequent trips between Midland and Houston, with additional legs to Dallas and other Texas bases. This particular routing from Alaska to the Permian suggests a deliberate cross-basin coordination as summer work begins on both fronts.