The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that ConocoPhillips had submitted its applications to drill a production well in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The development came after the US oil and exploration company inked an agreement with Imperial Oil and ExxonMobil Canada that it would be selling its interest in the leasehold it holds in Clyden oil sands in Alberta, Canada.

The firm applied to develop the GMT₁ site which is located in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit in the North Slope.The unit purchased is where the company's exploration wells discovered oil, which unfortunately remains to be extracted for commercial purposes. Most of the discoveries and production came from the fields in Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk fields. ConocoPhillips together with Anadarko Petroleum, its minority partner, now want to exhibit the viability of oil harvest from the North Slope. Since the lease sales launched by the BLM in 1999, they were the two most active explorers at the site.