Reuters is reporting that ConocoPhillips has applied for permits to develop a new field in the Mooses Tooth unit of the National Petroleum Reserve. It also applied for permits to build roads and other infrastructure needed to access the site.

The company hasn’t yet decided whether to sanction the project, however. That decision will come in the second half of 2014.

According to Reuters:

“The plans to expand in the reserve come after Conoco put ambitious offshore Arctic plans on the back burner. It said in April it would not seek to drill in 2014 in the remote Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska, where it spent more than $500 million in 2008 to acquire leases. Other companies also have plans to drill in the reserve. Three permits are held by Australia-based Linc Energy and two by Houston-based Hilcorp, both relatively new operators in Alaska.”

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com