Alaskans Compete for ANWR Leases
Photo Credit: US Bureau of Land Management
Although the rest of the world’s energy developers are keeping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) at arm’s length, local bidders are showing interest in federal oil and gas leases. The second lease sale mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 unsealed bids last week, and Alaskans competed for some of the tracts.
Namely, HEX is expanding its horizons beyond Cook Inlet offshore gas development, and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) is doubling down on its investment in ANWR’s coastal plain.
A Couple Contested Tracts
The US Bureau of Land Management offered fifty-eight tracts across nearly 700,000 acres and received bids from HEX and AIDEA on five tracts covering 72,049 acres.
AIDEA was uncontested for a coastal tract, offering $646,254 for 14,361 acres adjacent to six other tracts in the northwest corner of ANWR that the state-owned development authority leased earlier. AIDEA outbid HEX on two other tracts directly south.
“This acquisition aligns with the authority’s statutory mission,” says AIDEA Board Chair Bill Kendig. “AIDEA evaluates investments that can support economic development and provide long-term value to the state. And in this case, it’s doing so with the intent to produce income and jobs for decades to come.”
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HEX outbid AIDEA $477,537 to $400,330 for the southernmost tract offered. And the heaviest bidding was for a contested strip at the westernmost fringe of the refuge, Tract 112. The State of Alaska has argued that it owns land between the Staines River and Canning River, but US District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled last September that the Staines River boundary was reasonable, leaving 23,446 acres under federal jurisdiction. AIDEA bid $1,500,544, but HEX won the lease with $1,705,697, or approximately $72 per acre, well above the bid prices for the other tracts. The border strip is nearest to other North Slope infrastructure, such as the Point Thomson Unit on state land and the Greater Point Thomson Unit in state waters.
Receipts from HEX and AIDEA for the lease sale total $3,741,528. According to the Bureau of Land Management, the State of Alaska will receive nearly $2 million from the latest lease sale, representing 50 percent of the bid receipts.
HEX is Alaska’s only 100 percent locally owned oil and gas producer and operator, operating assets and critical infrastructure in Cook Inlet. Acquiring ANWR leases is a major expansion for the company.
“This acquisition reflects our long-term confidence in Alaska and our commitment to developing energy opportunities with discipline, local knowledge, and respect for the regulatory process,” says HEX President and CEO John Hendrix. “HEX Energy brings together a team with deep Alaska roots, North Slope experience, and international oil and gas expertise.”
Apart from contesting each other on a few ANWR tracts, HEX and AIDEA have worked closely in the past. AIDEA counts its investment in HEX to revive Cook Inlet gas production as a success story, after the company paid back the $7.5 million in financing last fall, eight months ahead of schedule.
AIDEA says it will continue to advance exploration on its ANWR tracts by performing 3D seismic surveys, gathering additional information, and considering development pathways and partnerships to produce oil from ANWR.
Hendrix, a veteran of the oil industry in Alaska and around the world, says, “I’m excited to be back working on the North Slope and to apply that experience to this important new opportunity for Alaska. This opportunity allows HEX Energy to commence diversifying and expanding its role in the dynamic energy industry of Alaska.”
In its analysis of the bill authorizing more ANWR lease sales, the Congressional Budget Office forecast revenue generation of $452 million from four sales by 2034. A similar forecast for the first-ever lease sales in 2021, authorized in 2017, predicted $1 billion in revenue. The first sale brought in $16.5 million and the second brought in zero.
Over the winter, zero bidders were interested in federal offshore oil and gas leases in Cook Inlet but instead bid more than $163 million for 187 tracts in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, west of Prudhoe Bay.
