Arctic Slope Regional Corp. said Wednesday its total contributions to a revenue-sharing program among Alaska Native corporations topped $1 billion for the first time.
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 requires Alaska Native regional corporations to share 70 percent of the revenue earned each year from natural resources development on lands conveyed to them under the act.
ASRC's latest contribution to the revenue sharing program was $125 million in March 2015, making it the first to cross the $1 billion threshold, said spokesperson Ty Hardt. The company began making contributions in the early 1980s, he said.
The money is split evenly between the 12 corporations, each of which owns lands in their historic regions.
Not all were blessed with resources as lucrative as ASRC's, whose holdings lie on the oil-rich North Slope. Substantial fossil fuel development at Alpine and satellite fields in the Colville River delta helped transform the company into one of the state's top earners.
ASRC president and CEO Rex A. Rock Sr. said future payouts may decline, however, due to declining oil production and low oil prices.