Future development and production facilities sited on Alaska’s OCS lands are anticipated at a proposed facility in the Beaufort Sea commonly known as Liberty. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) previously approved a Development and Production Plan (DPP) for the proposed project in 2018 which would have enabled the BSEE Alaska OCS Region to authorize facility construction and subsequent drilling activities, but before the lessee submitted applications to BSEE for permits to drill, the DPP approval was remanded back to BOEM via Ninth Circuit ruling which took effect in January 2021. Following the DPP remand, a Suspension of Production for a term of up to three years was granted by BSEE in December 2021. In 2022, the lessee and operator of the leases at Liberty, Hilcorp Alaska, LLC, informed BOEM that it was planning to update their Oil Spill Response Plan for the proposed facility which would result in the submission of an amended DPP for Liberty.

This project, proposed by Hilcorp Alaska, LLC, includes construction of an artificial gravel and concrete island in the OCS lands of the Beaufort Sea’s Foggy Island Bay located 5.6 miles offshore from Alaska’s mainland coastline. If permitted, this would be the first federal OCS development and production facility sited in the Alaska OCS Region. As proposed, the facility is projected to deliver a peak production rate of between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels of oil per day into the TAPS with a total recovery estimate of 80-150 million barrels of oil over 15-20 years. Although the Liberty facility would be permitted and regulated by BSEE, the full volume of production sold from Liberty would be subject to the requirements of Section 8(g) of the OCS Lands Act which shares portions of Federal revenue from OCS oil and gas production with coastal states.