Our history
ConocoPhillips can trace its heritage back to the greatest oil discoveries in Alaska history, and today the company continues its tradition of exploring new prospects on the Alaska frontier.
Kenai Peninsula/Cook Inlet
Richfield Oil Co., a predecessor of ARCO, which was later acquired by Phillips Petroleum Co., was involved in the early discoveries of oil and gas on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula and in Cook Inlet. Richfield drilled the first well at Swanson River in July 1957 and struck oil. Alaska’s first governor, Bill Egan, later credited Swanson River with providing the economic justification for statehood. On June 8, 1969, production of liquefied natural gas began at the Kenai LNG Facility for export to Japan. The Plant was for many years the only LNG export facility in the United States. In early 2018 ConocoPhillips Alaska reached an agreement with an Andeavor company for the sale of the Kenai LNG Facility. Operatorship was transferred to Andeavor on January 31, 2018. With the sale of Kenai LNG, ConocoPhillips’ exit from Cook Inlet is complete. As the longest, continuously operating LNG plant in the world, the Kenai LNG Plant served for 48 years as an LNG industry role model for safe, efficient and reliable operations.
Prudhoe Bay
On the North Slope, a different story was being played out. In 1966, ARCO almost gave up on its leases after drilling a number of dry holes. But their last effort, the Prudhoe Bay StateNo. 1 well, struck oil and gas in April 1967. The completion of a second well in March 1968 confirmed the discovery of the super-giant Prudhoe Bay Field, the largest oil field in North America. Today, ConocoPhillips is a partial owner of the Prudhoe Bay Unit and the trans-Alaska pipeline, which transports North Slope oil to Valdez for delivery, mostly to West Coast markets.
Kuparuk
ConocoPhillips also owns a majority of the Kuparuk River Field which is located 40 miles west of Prudhoe Bay. Kuparuk as discovered in 1969 by Sinclair Oil Corp., and acquired that year by ARCO. ConocoPhillips operates the field and continues to develop it.
Western North Slope
In 2000 Phillips Petroleum purchased ARCO Alaska’s assets for $7 billion. Two years later, Conoco Inc. merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips – and ConocoPhillips Alaska became Alaska’s largest oil producer. Since 2000, ConocoPhillips has developed the Colville River Unit, also known as Alpine, and a group of satellite fields using horizontal well technology. ConocoPhillips owns 100 percent of Alpine.
