Planned oil drilling project in Alaska will be unaffected by rig’s fall, ConocoPhillips says

A smaller substitute will be used as the company develops the Willow Project on Alaska’s North Slope during the winter construction season

Rig 26 is seen in a photo distributed by the state of Alaska on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, two days after it fell onto its side while being transported on the North Slope. (Doyon Drilling photo/Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

A winter oil-drilling campaign planned by ConocoPhillips will proceed without interruption despite the dramatic wreck of an oil rig over the weekend.

Doyon 26, claimed to be the largest mobile oil drilling rig in the United States, toppled over while being transported along a gravel road on the North Slope on Friday afternoon. A video of the crash shows a small fire erupting as the structure tumbles onto the nearby tundra.

Eight people were treated for minor injuries, according to a Sunday report from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, and up to 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel may have spilled.

The environmental effects of that spill, if any, are still being determined by that agency.

The rig, nicknamed “the Beast,” is owned by Doyon Drilling Inc. and was one of two that ConocoPhillips intended to use in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, located west of Prudhoe Bay, this winter.

ConocoPhillips is developing the vast Willow project in the reserve and intended to use both Doyon 26 and another rig as part of its winter development work, said Brandi Sellepack, manager of the company’s exploration program, in a court affidavit published Monday morning. Most new construction on the North Slope occurs during winter, when the ground is frozen and can be traversed with less harm to the environment.

The oil company’s drilling program has been legally challenged in court by several environmental and local groups, and its attorneys included details of the incident in a notice to the judge hearing that challenge.

“After assessing the impact of the unfortunate loss of Doyon 26, ConocoPhillips’s current plan is to proceed with the full four-well exploration drilling program utilizing a substitute drilling rig, Doyon 142, which is capable of completing all of the planned drilling scope that Doyon 26 was scheduled to complete,” Sellepack said in the affidavit. “As the drilling program proceeds, ConocoPhillips will evaluate whether aspects of the program must be shortened based on this change of plans, such as, for example, the extent of datagathering from the wells and the length of any production testing. This change of plans will not increase the scope of any aspects of the drilling program.”

The company said an underground seismic surveying program — intended to reveal the scope of oil pockets in the area — was unaffected by the rig’s accident and will proceed on schedule.

Development of Willow is seen as critical for the state treasury, according to current forecasts. Oil produced from the project will result in billions of dollars in tax revenue for the state treasury, local governments, and the U.S. government. 

At the same time, the project will have some effect on the local and global environment, both through construction and emissions that contribute to climate change.

Those side effects have been the topic of extended lawsuits, including one currently active in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.

In its notice to the court, ConocoPhillips said it believes Friday’s accident is unrelated to the arguments raised in that case.

• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.