The question of who will operate the Prudhoe Bay oil field BP’s sale to Hilcorp Energy is unresolved, it turns out. ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Patty Sullivan told us talks with Hilcorp are currently underway. ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and BP (Hilcorp after 2020) own the field in differing percentages. ConocoPhillips owns 36 percent; BP owns 26 percent, and the remainder held by ExxonMobil and the state’s 12.5 percent royalty share. Normally, the company that owns the majority of resources becomes operator, but BP as Prudhoe operator was more a result of the company’s history as one of the original developers of the field. ConocoPhillips has a long history as a slope field operator, originally in part of Prudhoe and the Kuparuk field and more recently at Alpine.

More recently Hilcorp has done a good job at three smaller slope field where it operates but Prudhoe is a vastly more complex undertaking with the world’s largest gas injection plant as well as waterflood and enhanced oil recovery projects.