State officials have approved a new oil pool at the Kuparuk River unit.

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved a request from ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. to establish the Kuparuk River-Torok Oil Pool at the unit.

The ruling allows ConocoPhillips to proceed with an oil development program from the existing Drill Site 3S at the North Slope unit and could led to additional pads in the future. The Kuparuk River-Torok Oil Pool is defined as “the accumulation of oil and gas common to and correlating with the interval within the Kalubik No. 1 well between the measured depths of 4,991 and 5,272 feet on the resistivity log recorded in exploratory well Kalubik No. 1,” according to the July 22 decision (Conservation Order No. 725).