Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's department will auction oil and gas drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reviving a federal program that produced only three winning bids when the government last tried it more than four years ago.

The Bureau of Land Management notified Congress of plans for the second of two lease sales Congress directed in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for the refuge's 1.5-million-acre coastal plain — the tundra section between the Brooks Range and the Beaufort Sea on Alaska's North Slope.

What did the first sale produce?

The inaugural ANWR sale, held January 6, 2021, two weeks before President Biden's inauguration, drew three winning bids from a small group of Alaska-focused operators. High bids totaled $14.4 million, according to the BLM sale tally.

Alaska independents Knik Arm Company and Oil Search (Alaska) LLC accounted for most of the winning bids. Hilcorp Energy, then the largest private operator on the North Slope, took one tract. ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and BP — the three operators with major adjacent North Slope acreage — declined to bid.

Industry analysts at the time flagged the absence of surface access as the central constraint. The closest tie-in point to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System sits at Prudhoe Bay, roughly 100 roadless miles across the coastal plain. With no infrastructure built, winning bidders accepted multi-decade exploration timelines.

The Biden administration suspended the leases in June 2021 and cancelled them outright in 2024, citing the program's environmental review and the limited industry appetite shown at the original auction.

What does the 2017 law still require?

Section 2001 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act directed the Interior Department to offer at least 400,000 acres in each of two ANWR sales, set a federal royalty of at least 16.67%, and hold the second sale within four years of the first. The Biden-era cancellation effectively reset that clock.

The revived sale must clear two statutory hurdles the 2021 round also faced: a supplemental environmental impact statement and a "fair market value" determination from BLM before any tracts can be offered.

Who is likely to bid?

The 2021 bidder pool was anchored by three Alaska-focused firms:

• Knik Arm Company, backed by an Alaska Native corporation
• Oil Search (Alaska) LLC, the U.S. subsidiary of the Australian operator that merged with Santos in 2022
• Hilcorp Energy, North America's largest private operator by production

Broader industry participation remains the open question. Chevron and TotalEnergies, like the major North Slope leaseholders, stayed out in 2021.

What to watch

• Notice of Sale: BLM has yet to publish a sale date, tract map, or minimum bid. Industry lawyers will compare acreage on offer against the 400,000-acre statutory floor
• Bidder list: Knik Arm and Oil Search are the most likely repeat bidders; broader majors remain unlikely absent a clear path to infrastructure
• Royalty rate: the 16.67% federal floor, with potential state-level add-ons under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
• Litigation: environmental groups including the Alaska Wilderness Recreation & Tourism Association and the National Wildlife Federation challenged the 2021 program; a new round will draw fresh suits in the U.S. District Court of Alaska
• Right-of-way: any winning operator will need to negotiate a coastal plain right-of-way to reach TAPS pump station 1 at Prudhoe Bay
• Revenue share: 50% of bonus bids and royalties are statutorily allocated to the State of Alaska