Title 31, Oil and Gas

Each commissioner, before entering upon the duties of office, shall take and subscribe to the oath prescribed for principal officers of the state.

Members of the commission are in the exempt service and shall receive an annual salary.

(a) The commission shall establish a principal office and branch offices necessary to discharge its business efficiently. For the convenience of the public or of parties to a proceeding the commission may hold meetings, hearings, or other proceedings at other locations. (b) The c…

(a) The Department of Law shall provide full-time legal counsel to the commission. The legal counsel provided by the Department of Law is subject to the approval of the commission. (b) The commission may, subject to the approval of the attorney general, contract for the services …

(a) The commission shall employ such staff as it considers necessary to carry out its responsibilities. (b) The professional staff of the commission and the personal secretary of each commissioner are in the exempt service under AS 39.25.110. (c) The secretarial and clerical staf…

(a) Members and employees of the commission, except clerical and secretarial staff, are subject to AS 39.50. (b) A member of the commission is disqualified from voting upon any matter before the commission in which the member has a conflict of interest.

(a) The Department of Natural Resources shall have standing before the commission to raise all issues relating to state-owned land without regard to the type of proprietary interest held by the state in that land. (b) With respect to federal land from which the state or any subdi…

The authority of the commission applies to all land in the state lawfully subject to its police powers, including land of the United States and land subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The authority of the commission further applies to all land included in a volunta…

(a) The commission has jurisdiction and authority over all persons and property, public and private, necessary to carry out the purposes and intent of this chapter. (b) The commission shall investigate to determine whether or not waste exists or is imminent, or whether or not oth…

(a) An owner of a gas storage facility that seeks an exemption under AS 38.05.180(u) or a credit under AS 43.20.046 shall apply to the commission for certification of the facility's working gas storage capacity and certification of the facility's gas withdrawal capability. The ap…

(a) For all wells for which a permit to drill has been issued by the commission, the commission may require (1) the making and filing of reports, well logs, drilling logs, electric logs, lithologic logs, directional surveys, and all other subsurface information on a well for whic…

(a) The commission shall adopt regulations governing practice and procedure before it under this chapter. (b) All orders issued by the commission shall be in writing, shall be entered in full and indexed in books kept by the commission for that purpose, and shall be public record…

(a) A notice required by this chapter shall be given in accordance with AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act). (b) Procedures to be followed under (a) of this section do not apply if the nature of the notice is not of a statewide or general application but is concerned only wit…

(a) The commission may act upon its own motion, or upon the petition of an interested person. On the filing of a petition concerning a matter within the jurisdiction of the commission under this chapter, the commission shall promptly fix a date for a hearing, and shall cause noti…

(a) The commission may summon witnesses, administer oaths, and require the production of records, books, and documents for examination at a hearing or investigation conducted by it. A person may not be excused from attending and testifying, or from producing books, papers, and re…

(a) Within 20 days after written notice of the entry of an order or decision of the commission, or such further time as the commission grants for good cause shown, a person affected by it may file with the commission an application for reconsideration of the matter determined by …

(a) During a hearing or investigation held under this chapter, the commission may allocate the costs of the hearing or investigation among the parties, including the commission, as is just under the circumstances. In allocating costs, the commission shall consider the regulatory …

(a) A person shall apply for and receive a permit from the commission before drilling (1) a well in search of oil or gas; (2) a well in support of the recovery or production of oil or gas; (3) an underground injection well for the purpose of gas storage; or (4) an underground inj…

(a) Every person that on the first day of a state fiscal year is the operator of a well for which a permit to drill has been issued under AS 31.05.090 and that has not, before that day, been plugged and abandoned and reported as abandoned in accordance with regulations of the com…

The waste of oil and gas in the state is prohibited.

(a) For the prevention of waste, to protect and enforce correlative rights, and to avoid the augmenting and accumulation of risks arising from the drilling of an excessive number of wells, or the reduced recovery that might result from too small a number of wells, the commission …

(a) To prevent, or to assist in preventing waste, to insure a greater ultimate recovery of oil and gas, and to protect the correlative rights of persons owning interests in the tracts of land affected, these persons may validly integrate their interests to provide for the unitize…

The use of gas from a well producing gas only, or from a well which is primarily a gas well for the manufacture of carbon black or similar products predominantly carbon is declared to constitute waste prima facie, and the gas well may not be used for this purpose unless it is cle…

(a) In addition to the penalties in (b) — (e) of this section, a person who violates a provision of this chapter, a regulation adopted under this chapter, or an order, stipulation, or term of a permit issued by the commission is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $100,00…

(a) Whenever it appears that a person is violating or threatening to violate any provision of this chapter, or any regulation or order of the commission, the commission shall bring suit against that person in the superior court of the judicial district where the violation occurs …

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires (1) “and” includes “or” and “or” includes “and”; (2) “commission” means the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission; (3) “correlative rights” mean the opportunity afforded, so far as it is practicable to do so, to the owne…