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Chairman and Governor sign oil and gas tax agreement By Dorreen Yellow Bird, Press Secretary NEW TOWN - Gov. John Hoeven and Marcus Levings, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes signed a continuation of the State-Tribal Oil and Gas Tax Agreement created to increase the production of oil and gas on the reservation. They signed the agreement at the tribal chamber and administrative headquarters in New Town on Wednesday. |
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The first agreement was signed by the governor and chairman in June 2008. The agreement sought to change the two-tax system into one which would stimulate business activity for the tribe. The current agreement will continue indefinitely. Tribal energy director, Fred Fox, is lead staff for energy development on the tribal trust land. This means he is primarily responsible for the oil and gas on land owned by the tribe, not individual allottees. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, realty department on January 5, 2010, prepared the following information for both tribal and allottee trust lands. This is an overall look at oil and gas on the Fort Berthold reservation. The result of the two-year agreement is evident by the increased development on the reservation.
LEASES: As of 1/1/10: Total number of Leases approved: 2819 Number of leases pending: 1 Total number of leased acres: 501,226.70 Total number of acres available to lease 31,737.11 Total Payouts: $179,284,482.73 ASSIGNMENTS: There remain approximately 373 new assignments of oil/gas mining leases to be processed for this location for various companies. RDRS: We will continue to utilize RDRS pending the conversion to TAAMS. PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT (Rights-of-Way (ROWs) and Applications for Permit to Drill (APDs)): As of 1/1/10: Total Number of Permission to Survey approved 481 Total number of On-Site Inspections conducted 194 Total number of ROWs approved 59 Total number of APD’s received 126 Total number of APD’s approved 75 Total number of APD’s pending 51 Number of wells currently being drilled 15 Number of wells producing 34 Number of wells produced but shut in pending pipeline 5 Since 12/1/09, 11 permissions to survey have been approved, 14 on-site inspections have been conducted, 8 new APD’s have been received, and 2 have been approved. The average processing time at the Fort Berthold Agency for ROWs and associated documents is less than 5 days. Delays occur typically due to incomplete or inaccuracies in the applications. ENVIRONMENTAL: As of 1/1/10: Approved Well EA’s (FONSI) 42 Number of wells In Approved EA’s (FONSI) 125 Approved Non-Well EA’s (FONSI) 24 Pending Well EA’s 6 Number of Wells in Pending Well EA’s 34 Approved Cat Exs for wells 2 Since transferring the responsibilities for review and approval of EA’s to DESCRM (Division of Environmental, Safety, and Cultural Resource Management) on August 31, 2009, a total of 38 EA’s have been processed, comprising 18 EA’s for 60 wells, 19 EA’s for pipeline gathering and supplemental, and 1 EA for seismic operations. PIPELINES: The Zenergy–Arrow Midstream Holdings, LLC pipeline gathering system: The Fort Berthold Agency approved the easement for Phase 1 of this project on April 28, 2009. Construction is nearing completion. Plans for additional pipelines throughout the Reservation are in discussion. UNIT AGREEMENTS: The Fort Berthold Agency approved the unit agreement for Cirque Resource, LP on May 21, 2009 and the unit agreement for Kodiak was approved on July 1, 2009. Three wells are being completed in the Kodiak’s Twin Buttes Unit. Cirque has commenced drilling its first Spotted Bear Unit well. The Fort Berthold Agency has approved 16 communitization agreements. SEISMIC PERMITS: The Fort Berthold Agency has approved 3 seismic permits that involved a total of 573 tribal and allotted tracts of land. An additional seismic permit is currently in process. ROYALTIES: Oil and gas royalty distributions to the allottees and the Three Affiliated Tribes were $1,764,529 for December 2009. The total oil and gas royalty distribution since January 2009 is $7,902,990. Royalties are currently being reported for 26 of the 34 producing wells. Royalties are expected to be paid out for the remaining wells within the next 30 to 60 days. OUTREACH: The Fort Berthold Agency has conducted 4 training sessions for the operators on the processes for obtaining ROW and APD approval. The Tribe, Fort Berthold Agency and the One-Stop shop conducted 16 oil and gas outreach meeting for landowners. The One-Stop shop conducted an outreach meeting with the students of the Fort Berthold Community College.
“Through this present agreement, both the tribe and the state are able to work together to provide more stability in the taxation of oil and gas in western North Dakota,” said Levings. “The revenue from this particular tax agreement has assisted with funding the improvement of the Three Affiliated Tribes roads system, health care and law enforcement programs.” |
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