share 70% of revenue from natural re- sources including oil and gas with other Native regional and village corporations. This created a problem for Doyon in that it was a disincentive for the corporation to invest its own funds in exploring lands it owns, under ANCSA, because Doyon would receive only 30% of the revenue while providing 100% of the money. It was different in the state-owned lands in the Nenana Basin because Doyon had secured state oil and gas leases and would receive 100% of rev- enue less a one-eighth state royalty. The disincentive has prevented Doyon from making substantial investments of its own funds in the Yukon Flats, Doyon officials have noted in the past. The solution was to bring in a pri- vate partner, in this case Hilcorp, as the major investor and equity owner, with Doyon as the royalty owner.
the Nenana Basin west of Fairbanks, which has potential for gas that could be supplied to Fairbanks, the major community in the region. The Nenana Basin had been explored unsuccessfully years ago by ARCO Alaska, but Doyon did subsequent geologic studies and found that most of the basin, and the more prospective parts, were north of where ARCO had drilled. The area is on state-owned land. Doyon secured state leases and brought in industry partners to drill two tests, but the drilling was unsuccessful. The basin still has potential, Doyon believes, but the corporation has since turned its attention to Yukon Flats farther north where it is the resource owner. There are some differences between Doyon’s initiative in the Nenana and Yukon Flats basins, however. The Doy- on-owned lands in the Yukon Flats were acquired under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), under which regional corporation landowners
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that could be built from the North Slope to southern Alaska. There has been sporadic interest from industry in the region. ExxonMo- bil did seismic surveys years ago but did not follow up with a drilling pro- gram. ARCO Alaska, now ConocoPhil- lips, drilled a test well in the Kandik Basin to the east near the Canada bor- der, but the well was unsuccessful. Geologists have considered the area more prone to natural gas than oil but a reassessment by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) pointed to oil potential as well. Based on that, Doyon, the land and resource owner, commissioned geochemical sampling programs which further indicated the presence of oil. This was followed by a seismic survey by Doyon which focused attention on the Birch Creek area. Doyon has previously explored it- self in another Interior Alaska basin,
— Tim Bradner
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Photo Courtesy Doyon, Ltd.
Doyon Utilities, partner Corix keep lights, heat on for Interior military bases
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Fairbanks-based Doyon Utilities is keeping the lights and heat on, and the water flowing, at military installa - tions across Alaska. Doyon Utilities is a joint venture between Doyon, Ltd., the Interior’s Alaska Native Corporation, and Corix, a North American utility company. The company serves more than 55,000 soldiers, airmen, families and Department of Defense civilians at Fort Wainwright, Fort Greely and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. With a service area larger than the state of Delaware, Doyon Utilities (DU) is Alaska’s third-largest utility company
in terms of utility infrastructure. The utility privatization initiative grew out of the separate, earlier ini - tiative by the Department of Defense to privatize housing on military bases. Installation commanders felt it was more efficient to let private develop - ers build on-base housing to allow local commanders to focus on core missions. Also, capital investment for improvements could be done private - ly without having to go to Congress for appropriations. Congress provided statutory au- thority to the Department of Defense (DOD) in 1997 that allowed military
installations the ability to privatize their utility systems, with the goal of pro - viding safe, reliable and efficient utility services, and updating aging utility infrastructure. DU was awarded three 50-year utility privatization contracts for Fort Greely, JBER Richardson and Fort Wainwright, taking over owner- ship, operations and maintenance of the 12 utilities the contracts encom - pass – electrical distribution, water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, natural gas distribution and steam distribution.
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THE LINK: FALL 2025
www.AlaskaAlliance.com
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