ConocoPhillips Challenges Permit for Santos’ Alaska Oil Project

ConocoPhillips Co. is challenging a land use permit issued by the state of Alaska that may block the development of Santos’ $3 billion Pikka project, the biggest new oil project on Alaskan land in decades.

The appeal marks the latest move in a dispute between ConocoPhillips and Pikka developer Oil Search, which Santos acquired last year, over fees that Oil Search would pay ConocoPhillips to use roads in the U.S. independent's Kuparuk River Unit (KRU), next to Pikka.

Oil Search rejected ConocoPhillips’ proposal to pay $95 million in fees and applied to the state for a permit to access the roads, which the Alaska Department of Natural Resources granted on March 29, until the two companies reach a road use agreement.