Negotiations on an agreement to help spur oil exploration on Fort Berthold Indian Reservation should intensify soon, prompted by recent oil discoveries on the reservation’s outskirts, state and tribal officials say.

However, the talks will have some complex employment, tax and regulatory differences to resolve, participants say. The Three Affiliated Tribes has its own oil production tax, along with fees and regulations meant to help tribal members get a share of oil production jobs.

‘‘It’s going to be pretty challenging,’’ said Lynn Helms, director of the state Industrial Commission’s mineral resources department. ‘‘We have to respect the sovereignty of the Three Affiliated Tribes, and at the same time, come up with a model that gives the oil industry some comfort level that things are going to work.’’

Oil industry officials are pushing for an agreement to provide the same tax rates and regulations for drilling on reservation ‘‘fee land,’’ which is privately owned, and trust lands, which are so called because the property is held in trust by the federal government for the tribe and individual tribal members.

At present, the tribe cannot tax oil production on reservation fee land, while both the tribe and state may tax production on trust lands. That means oil production on trust lands may carry a tax rate of 17 percent, once the state’s 11.5 percent oil tax is stacked atop the tribe’s 5.5 percent levy.

In April, the North Dakota Legislature approved a bill that gives Gov. John Hoeven authority to work out an agreement with the Three Affiliated Tribes to govern reservation oil production.

The goal is to have the same taxes and rules for Fort Berthold crude — whether it is drawn from beneath fee or trust lands — and a state-tribal agreement to share oil revenues.

Hoeven and Marcus Wells Jr., chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, met May 30 to begin preliminary talks. They are now being handled by a group of 10 state, tribal and industry officials, including three tribal council members and representatives of the state Industrial Commission and Tax Department.

Helms and Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said many industry officials had hoped an agreement would already be signed. Some companies, including Marathon Oil Co. of Houston have been eyeing the potential of reservation lands, they said.

Scott Scheffler, a Marathon spokesman, said the lack of an agreement has not delayed company plans to develop reservation land.

‘‘We’re still early in our entry into the Bakken,’’ Scheffler said. ‘‘But any time we can make regulation and taxing (of oil exploration) more predictable, it will encourage that development.’’

The legislation includes restrictions on what the agreement may say. Tax revenues from trust lands must be split equally between the tribe and the state while the tribe must get a 20 percent share of tax collections from fee land, the bill says.

At present, the tribe gets no oil tax revenue from fee land and production on trust land is minimal because of the high combined tax rate.

Wells believes the reservation oil tax should be the same on both types of land. The legislation gives Hoeven authority to reduce the state’s oil tax rate, which is now 11.5 percent, down as low as 5 percent.

‘‘The main thing that I am looking for is a uniform rate,’’ Wells said. ‘‘I do believe an agreement can be done.’’

One potential sticking point is whether the tribe’s Tribal Employment Rights Office, or TERO, regulations and fees will apply to reservation oil production. The rules and fees are intended to ensure that oil exploration will mean jobs for tribal members.

Wells believes the rules should stay in place. During debate on the legislation, oil industry spokesmen cited them as a barrier to doing business on the reservation.

The Fort Berthold reservation sits atop parts of the Bakken geologic formation. Drilling a well in Bakken rock can cost more than $10 million, but the formation’s attractiveness to oil companies has increased as the price of crude has risen above $60 a barrel.

Drillers have encountered recent success with wells drilled about six miles northwest of Parshall, in southern Mountrail County. Three drilling rigs are working in the area, and Helms said four wells are producing so far.

Ness said the drilling of one oil well can mean 120 jobs, and Helms said steps to make drilling more attractive on the reservation could prompt extensive development.

‘‘There is the potential to employ 10 drilling rigs for 10 years, just drilling on reservation lands,’’ Helms said. ‘‘That is just an incredible number of jobs, and wages, and royalties, and taxes. It’s in the billions of dollars.’’

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