(15) Beluga River Unit On February 4, 2016 , Chugach entered into an agreement entitled, Purchase and Sale Agreement between ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. (  CPAI  ) and Municipality of Anchorage d/b/a Municipal Light &amp; Power and Chugach Electric Association, Inc. The Purchase and Sale Agreement transfers CPAIs working interest in the BRU to Chugach and ML&amp;P. The total purchase price was $148.0 million, with Chugachs portion totaling $44.4 million. Chugachs interest in the BRU is to reduce the cost of electric service to its retail and wholesale members by securing an additional long-term supply of natural gas to meet on-going generation requirements. The acquisition complements existing gas supplies and is expected to provide greater fuel diversity. Under the joint bid arrangement, Chugachs ownership of CPAIs working interest is 30% and ML&amp;Ps ownership is 70% . The ownership shares include the attendant rights and privileges of all gas and oil resources, including 15,500 lease acres ( 8,200 in Unit / Participating Area and 7,300 held by Unit), Sterling and Beluga producing zones, and CPAIs 67% working interest in deep oil resources. On April 21, 2016, the acquisition was approved by the RCA and the transaction closed on April 22, 2016. Additionally, CPAI had contractual gas sales obligations to ENSTAR through 2017 . This contract was assumed by ML&amp;P and Chugach on the basis of ownership share. The BRU is located on the western side of Cook Inlet, approximately 35 miles from Anchorage, and is an established natural gas field that was originally discovered in 1962. The BRU was jointly owned ( one -third) by CPAI, Hilcorp, and ML&amp;P. Following the acquisition, ML&amp;Ps ownership of the BRU increased to approximately 56.7% , Hilcorps ownership remained unchanged at 33.3% , and Chugachs ownership is 10.0% . The BRU acquisition costs were recorded as deferred charges on Chugachs balance sheet and totaled $1.5 million at December 31, 2016. Chugach requested that these costs be amortized based on units of production of the BRU and recognized as depreciation and amortization on Chugachs statement of operations. Chugach also requested approval to recover the deferred costs in the gas transfer price. The RCA issued an order combining the BRU cost recovery process and the request to create a regulatory asset into a single docket. On October 26, 2017, the RCA issued a final order accepting Chugachs filing and closing the docket, see Note 5  Regulatory Matters  Beluga River Unit Gas Transfer Price. Each of the BRU participants has a right to take their interest of the gas produced. Parties that take less than their interest of the fields output may either accept a cash settlement for their underlift or take their underlifted gas in future years. As part of the BRU acquisition, Chugach acquired 30% of CPAIs underlift, which was 69,099 Mcf at acquisition and was in an overlift position of 198 Mcf and 8 Mcf at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Chugach has opted to take any cumulative underlift in gas in the future and will record the gas as fuel expense on the statement of operations when received. The revenue generated by Chugachs i nterest in the BRU operations was primarily associated with the gas sold to ENSTAR, pursuant to the aforementioned contract, which expired December 31, 2017. Chugach recognized revenue from the BRU in the amount of $6.6 million and $2.8 million in December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Chugach records depreciation, depletion and amortization on BRU assets based on units of production. During 2018, Chugach lifted 1. 2 Bcf resulting in a cumulative lift since purchase of 4 .5 Bcf of the approximate 25.1 Bcf in Chugachs proven developed reserves. Chugach, and other owners, ML&amp;P and Hilcorp, are operating under an existing Joint Operating Agreement. Hilcorp is the operator for BRU. In addition to the operator fees to Hilcorp, other BRU expenses include royalty expense and interest on long-term debt. All expenses other than depreciation, depletion and amortization and interest on long-term debt are included as fuel expense on Chugachs statement of operations. Chugach has applied and qualified for a small producer tax credit, provided by the State of Alaska, resulting in an estimate of no liability for production taxes for a period of ten years, through 2026. The revenue in excess of expenses less the allowed TIER from BRU operations is adjusted through Chugachs fuel and purchased power adjustment process. ?