By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – ConocoPhillips (NYSE) was contacted by three Democratic U.S. legislators to discuss a month old leak from Alaska’s oilfield and its implications for the nearby ConocoPhillips project on public lands.

Raul Grijalva (the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources), and two other Democrats wrote a letter asking Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips’ chairman and chief executive, why it had taken so long to find the leakage and fix it.

According to the regulators and the company, more than 7.2 million cubic feet natural gas escaped from an oilfield.

Oil production from the Alpine field fell by almost a quarter of a percent after leaking on March 13. ConocoPhillips stated in a video that trace amounts of gas could continue to leak from the site.

They also wanted to know why 300 employees were temporarily evacuated by the company, even though it denied that the leak was dangerous for human safety and health.

“How likely was it that this leak would become something worse, such as an explosion or blowout?” In the letter, the lawmakers stated that.

They cited reports that the main source of the leak came from a poorly cemented well.

Dennis Nuss of ConocoPhillips spokeswoman and said that the company was looking at the letter in order to provide a reply.

Grijalva questioned ConocoPhillips about the implications of the leak for the proposed Willow project within the National Petroleum Reserve -Alaska. This 23-million-acre (9.3-million-hectares) tract on Alaska’s North Slope is the most extensive area of undeveloped public land in America. Grijalva’s Committee has jurisdiction over public land oil and gas resources.

Alaska’s peak oil production was more than 2,000,000 barrels/day in 1988. Since then, its oil production has declined due to reduced investment and increased opportunities in other states’ shale fields. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that Alaska’s oil production was only 437,000 bpd in 2021.

According to estimates, 600 million barrels are held by the Willow project. That’s more than is stored at the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.