Alaska § 43.90.310 - Royalty inducement.

§ 43.90.310. Royalty inducement.

 (a) Before the start of the first binding open season to be conducted by the licensee, the commissioner of natural resources shall adopt regulations that establish a method to determine the monthly value of the state's royalty share of gas production and establish terms under which the state will exercise its right to switch between taking its royalty in value or in kind for gas committed for firm transportation in the first binding open season of the project or shipped in the firm transportation capacity described in a voucher received by the gas producer under AS 43.90.330 . The regulations must        (1) minimize retroactive adjustments to the monthly value of the state's royalty share of gas production;

 (2) provide a method for establishing a fair market value for each component of the state's royalty gas that is based on pricing data from reliable and widely available industry trade publications and that uses appropriate adjustments to reflect             (A) deductions for actual and reasonable transportation costs for the state's royalty gas, including a reasonable share of the costs associated with unused capacity commitments on gas pipelines from the North Slope to the first destination market with reasonable market liquidity;

 (B) location differentials between the destination markets where North Slope gas could be sold;

 (C) reasonable and actual costs for gas processing; in this subparagraph, “gas processing” means post-production treatment of gas to extract natural gas liquids; and

 (D) deductions permitted under the 1980 Royalty Settlement Agreement for Prudhoe Bay gas; and

 (3) establish terms under which the state will exercise its authority to switch between taking its royalty gas in value and in kind to ensure that the state's actions do not unreasonably             (A) cause the lessee or other person to bear disproportionate transportation costs with respect to the state's royalty gas;

 (B) interfere with the lessee's or other person's long-term marketing of its production.

 (b) If a lessee or other person qualified for a resource inducement under AS 43.90.300 agrees under (c) of this section, the lessee or other person is entitled to elect        (1) to calculate its gas royalty obligation under the regulations adopted under (a) of this section for natural gas transported on a firm contract executed during the project's first binding open season or under the methodology set out in the existing leases from which the gas is produced, and             (A) upon the request of the lessee, the commissioner of natural resources shall contractually amend the existing lease to effect the election under this paragraph and incorporate as fixed contract terms the relevant regulatory provisions; and

 (B) the election under this paragraph remains in effect until new regulations are adopted as a result of a review under (d) of this section, at which time, a lessee or other person qualified under AS 43.90.300 may change its election under this paragraph; upon the request of the lessee, the commissioner of natural resources shall contractually amend the lease to incorporate as fixed contract terms the relevant revised regulatory provisions;

 (2) to enter into a contract with the state that amends the existing lease terms by providing a mechanism that ensures that, when the state exercises its right to switch between taking its royalty in value or in kind for gas committed for firm transportation in the first binding open season of the project, the lessee or other person does not bear disproportionate transportation costs with respect to the state's royalty gas; and by modifying the required period of notice that the state must provide before exercising the state's right to switch between taking its royalty in value or in kind for gas committed for firm transportation in the first binding open season of the project.

 (c) To claim the inducement under (b) of this section, a lessee or other person qualified under AS 43.90.300 shall agree, on an application form provided by the Department of Natural Resources, that the lessee or other person, and the lessee's or other person's affiliates, successors, assigns, and agents, will not protest or appeal a filing by the licensee to roll in expansion costs of the mainline up to a level that is required in AS 43.90.130 (7) if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission does not have a rebuttable presumption in effect that rolled-in treatment applies to the cost of the expansion of the project. The agreement not to protest may not preclude the lessee or other person, or the lessee's or other person's affiliates, successors, assigns, and agents, from protesting a filing to roll in mainline expansion costs that the licensee is not required to propose and support under AS 43.90.130 (7).

 (d) The commissioner of natural resources shall provide for review of the regulations adopted under (a) of this section at least every two years after the commencement of commercial operations to determine whether the regulations continue to meet the requirements of (a) of this section under current conditions, and shall amend the regulations when the requirements are not being met.

 (e) No provision of this chapter precludes the election set out in (b) of this section, nor may the commissioner of natural resources assert any provision of any existing lease or unit agreement as precluding the elections set out in (b) of this section.