Sec. 38.05.134. - Conversion to lease.
If the licensee requests and the commissioner determines that the work commitment obligation set out in an exploration license issued under AS 38.05.132 has been met, the commissioner shall convert to one or more leases all or part, as the licensee may indicate, of the area described in the exploration license that remains after the relinquishments, removals, or deletions required by AS 38.05.132 (d)(2). A lease issued under this section
(1) is subject to the acreage limitations imposed by AS 38.05.140 (c);
(2) is subject to AS 38.05.180 (j) - (m), (o) - (u), and (x) - (z);
(3) must be conditioned upon a royalty in amount or value of not less than 12.5 percent of production, except that the lessee who, proceeding under AS 38.05.131 - 38.05.134, under a lease issued in the Cook Inlet sedimentary basin who is the first to file with the commissioner a nonconfidential sworn statement claiming to be the first to have drilled a well discovering oil or gas in a previously undiscovered oil or gas pool and who is certified by the commissioner within one year of completion of that discovery well to have drilled a well in that pool that is capable of producing in paying quantities shall pay a royalty of five percent on all production of oil or gas from that pool attributable to that lease for a period of 10 years following the date of discovery of that pool, and thereafter the royalty payable on all production of oil or gas from the pool attributable to that lease shall be determined and payable as specified in the lease; the payment of the five percent royalty under this paragraph is authorized only to a holder of a lease who meets the requirements of AS 38.05.180 (f)(4);
(4) must include an annual rent of $3 per acre or fraction of an acre initially paid to the state at inception of the lease and payable annually after that until the income to the state from royalty under that lease exceeds the rental income to the state under that lease for that year; and
(5) is subject to other conditions and obligations that are specified in the lease.