By Yereth Ros

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters: ConocoPhillips (NYSE 🙂 continues to develop its enormous Willow project on Alaska’s North Slope. Despite a Federal Court ruling that reversed Trump’s approval, ConocoPhillips (NYSE 🙂 hasn’t lost any time, according to an Alaska manager.

Alaskan officials are eager for oil drilling to rise to help boost their tax revenues at a time where most of the new U.S. output has been concentrated in Texas and adjacent states. ConocoPhillips, Alaska’s biggest producer, plans to invest $4 billion to $6 million on Willow. Willow is located in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR–A).

In August, a U.S. District Court decision found that Trump’s approvals were not based upon sound environmental analysis. Federal agencies must reconsider these decisions. ConocoPhillips was previously blocked by the lawsuit filed earlier by Native and environmental groups.

At the annual meeting of the Resource Development Council for Alaska, Vincent Lelarge, Vincent Lelarge’s North Slope manager for asset development said that ConocoPhillips is still committed to Willow. He also stated, “ConocoPhillips continues to work through the legal procedure and more specifically working through issues that were identified by the district court ruling.”

Lelarge stated that Willow contains approximately 600 million barrels worth of oil recoverable and could produce more than 160,000 barrels per hour (bpd), if it was developed. This would make it the North Slope’s westernmost oilfield.

Lelarge stated that the Willow timeline has not been affected by legal setbacks. In preparation of the final investment decision, Lelarge said that company engineers are continuing to plan and continue cost analysis.

ConocoPhillips plans to continue Willow development, but ConocoPhillips will soon begin production on a new project in the western North Slope. This is the GMT-2 field. ConocoPhillips has made more than $1billion investment. The company claims that the field could yield 35,000 to 40,000.