About the Oil & Gas Section
Pipelines! Lease sales! Corporate income tax! Preventing waste of Alaska’s oil and gas resources! What do all of these topics have in common? The Oil and Gas Section at the Department of Law.
Scope of Work
The Oil and Gas Section has three primary agency clients: the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the Alaska Department of Revenue, and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The attorneys, paralegals, and legal assistants in the Oil and Gas Section work with state client agencies to ensure that the State's vast oil, gas, and geothermal resources are responsibly managed and revenues from royalties and taxes received.
In its work advising the Division of Oil and Gas within the Department of Natural Resources, the Oil and Gas Section drills down on all aspects of oil, gas, and pipeline issues in the state. Caseloads include both long-term litigation and fast-paced projects. The former category can include reviewing, defending, and litigating the client agency’s best interest findings, which act as the administrative approval for oil and gas projects. The latter category might include drafting bills, advising the agency during lease sales, appearing in bankruptcy cases, reviewing royalty sales contracts, and determining when a lease is set to expire. In addition to traditional oil and gas matters, the section also advises on geothermal exploration and leasing issues.
The Oil and Gas Section represents the Tax Division of the Alaska Department of Revenue, advising on a wide array of state tax matters from oil and gas production tax audits to the fisheries business tax appeals. The caseload can include defending corporate income tax regulations before the Alaska Supreme Court to deposing expert witnesses in an oil and gas property tax case. Some cases resolve through negotiations, while others are litigated over a number of years.
The Oil and Gas Section also serves as counsel to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission which exercises what is virtually “cradle to grave” oversight for every oil and gas well drilled in Alaska, to ensure good oil field practices. This important agency relies on daily advice from the Oil and Gas Section to review its orders, ensure its hearings comply with due process, and to defend the Commission’s orders on appeal.
The Oil and Gas Section brings expertise in these subject areas together to provide legal advice supporting some of the State's largest revenue sources.
Section Contact
For further information on the Oil & Gas Section contact:
Mary Hunter Gramling
Chief Assistant Attorney General and Section Supervisor
907-465-6719