Title 31 — Oil and Gas
4 chapters · 72 sections in this title.
AS 31.05.005 Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission created.
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(a) There is created as an independent quasi-judicial agency of the state the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, composed of three commissioners appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature in joint session. In making appointments to the commission under AS…
AS 31.05.007 Term of office; vacancy; removal.
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(a) The term of office of each member is six years. A commissioner, upon the expiration of a term, shall continue to hold office until a successor is appointed and qualified. (b) A vacancy arising in the office of a commissioner shall be filled by appointment by the governor and …
AS 31.05.009 Qualifications of members.
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Members shall be qualified as follows: (1) one member shall be a petroleum engineer who (A) holds a certificate of registration as an engineer under AS 08.48 and, under regulations adopted to implement that chapter, has qualified as a petroleum engineer; or (B) has earned a degre…
AS 31.05.010 Application. [Repealed by § 4 ch 158 SLA 1978.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 31.05.011 Quorum.
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Two members of the commission constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, for the performance of a duty, or for the exercise of a power of the commission.
AS 31.05.013 Oath of office.
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Each commissioner, before entering upon the duties of office, shall take and subscribe to the oath prescribed for principal officers of the state.
AS 31.05.015 Compensation of members of the commission.
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Members of the commission are in the exempt service and shall receive an annual salary.
AS 31.05.017 Principal office; seal.
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(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…
AS 31.05.020 [Renumbered as AS 31.05.095.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 31.05.021 Legal counsel.
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(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 …
AS 31.05.023 Commission staff.
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(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…
AS 31.05.025 Conflict of interest.
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(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.
AS 31.05.026 Relationship to Department of Natural Resources.
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(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…
AS 31.05.027 Land subject to commission's authority.
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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…
AS 31.05.030 Powers and duties of commission.
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(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…
AS 31.05.032 Certification of gas storage capacity.
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(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…
AS 31.05.035 Confidential reports.
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(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…
AS 31.05.040 Regulations and orders.
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(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…
AS 31.05.050 Notice.
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(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…
AS 31.05.060 Action by commission.
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(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…
AS 31.05.070 Attendance and testimony of witnesses.
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(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…
AS 31.05.080 Reconsiderations.
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(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 …
AS 31.05.085 Expenses of investigation or hearing.
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Article 2. Regulation of Operations. (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 comm…
AS 31.05.090 Permits to drill wells.
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(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…
AS 31.05.093 Regulated well regulatory cost charge.
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(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…
AS 31.05.095 Waste prohibited.
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The waste of oil and gas in the state is prohibited.
AS 31.05.100 Establishment of drilling units for pools.
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(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 …
AS 31.05.110 Unitization and unitized operation of pools and integration of interests by agreement.
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(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…
AS 31.05.120 Use of gas from well to manufacture carbon products without permit is prima facie waste.
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Article 3. General Provisions. 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 fo…
AS 31.05.125 Regulation of shallow natural gas; relationship of chapter to other laws. [Repealed, § 58 ch 49 SLA 2004.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 31.05.130 Secs. 31.05.130 — 31.05.140. Levy of Tax and Disposition of Funds. [Repealed, § 2 ch 247 SLA 1970.]
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[Repealed or reserved.]
AS 31.05.150 Penalties.
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(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…
AS 31.05.160 Injunctive relief.
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(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 …
AS 31.05.170 Definitions.
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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…
AS 31.15.010 Hearing on question of discrimination.
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(a) Upon the complaint of a person having an interest in the production of oil from a field, the commission shall hold a hearing or hearings, or, at the commission's own discretion, the commission may hold a hearing or hearings to determine if there has been unjust and unreasonab…
AS 31.15.020 Determination of common purchaser.
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(a) Where a purchaser is purchasing from a field and the commission finds that the purchaser has unjustly and unreasonably discriminated in purchases with regard to oil offered for sale in favor of one or more owners of oil produced in the field, the commission shall order the pu…
AS 31.15.030 Responsibility of common purchaser.
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(a) A common purchaser purchasing in this state shall purchase ratably without unjust and unreasonable discrimination in favor of any owner or producer over any other owner or producer offering to sell oil produced from a field where it is a common purchaser or from fields in rea…
AS 31.15.040 Penalty.
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A person violating an order issued under this chapter shall be assessed by the commission a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000. Each day a violation continues constitutes a separate offense.
AS 31.15.050 Definitions.
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In this chapter, (1) “commission” means the Regulatory Commission of Alaska; (2) “field” means a general area which is underlain or appears to be underlain by at least one pool, and includes the underground reservoir containing oil or gas; and the words “pool” and “field” mean th…
AS 31.25.005 Purpose.
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The corporation shall, for the benefit of the state, to the fullest extent possible, (1) develop and have primary responsibility for developing natural gas pipelines, an Alaska liquefied natural gas project, and other transportation mechanisms to deliver natural gas in-state for …
AS 31.25.007 Expedited review and action by state agencies or entities.
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A state agency or entity conducting a review or taking action relating to a project under this chapter shall expedite the review or action in a manner consistent with the timely completion of the project.
AS 31.25.010 Structure.
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The Alaska Gasline Development Corporation is a public corporation and government instrumentality acting in the best interest of the state for the purposes required by AS 31.25.005, located for administrative purposes in the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Develop…
AS 31.25.020 Governing body.
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(a) The corporation shall be governed by a board of directors consisting of (1) five public members; and (2) two individuals designated by the governor that are each the head of a principal department of the state, except that the commissioner of natural resources and the commiss…
AS 31.25.030 Meetings of board.
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(a) The board shall elect a chair, secretary, and treasurer from among its membership at each annual meeting. A majority of the members constitutes a quorum for organizing the board, conducting its business, and exercising the powers of the corporation. The board shall meet at th…
AS 31.25.035 Minutes of meetings.
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The board shall keep minutes of each meeting and send certified copies to the governor and to the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee.
AS 31.25.040 Administration of affairs; program directors.
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(a) The board shall manage the assets and business of the corporation and may adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws and regulations governing the manner in which the business of the corporation is conducted and the manner in which its powers are exercised. The board shall delegate supe…
AS 31.25.045 Executive director.
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The corporation shall employ an executive director who may not be a member of the board. The executive director shall be appointed by the board and serves at the pleasure of the board.
AS 31.25.050 Legal counsel.
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(a) Except as provided in (b) of this section, the corporation shall retain legal counsel to advise the corporation in legal matters and represent it in litigation. (b) The attorney general shall (1) be the legal counsel for the corporation for legal services related to the devel…
AS 31.25.060 Employment of personnel.
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The board may appoint other officers and engage professional and technical advisors as independent contractors. The executive director may hire employees of the corporation and engage professional and technical advisors under contract with the corporation. The board shall prescri…
AS 31.25.065 Personnel exempt from State Personnel Act.
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The personnel of the corporation are exempt from AS 39.25.