Before the merger, BP sold most of its ANS crude oil to other West Coast refiners because it did not own refineries on the West Coast. BP benefitted from higher spot prices because of its status as a merchant marketer, and also because Alaska's royalty scheme for ANS production was tied to ANS spot prices on the West Coast. After the merger, BP will acquire two West Coast oil refineries that were part of ARCO, and BP likely will need to use most of its ANS crude oil production to operate these two refineries. Since BP will be consuming most of its ANS production internally, BP will now benefit from lower royalty payments to the extent that the ANS spot price drops. Therefore, as a result of the new market structure created by the proposed divestitures, BP is extremely unlikely to resume exporting ANS crude oil to the Far East (or elsewhere) to increase spot prices for ANS crude oil on the West Coast.