To avoid violating antitrust laws, Crowley Maritime Corp. must sell some of its assets before it can buy out Yukon Fuel Co. of Anchorage, according to a consent decree filed by the Department of Law.

Crowley wants to acquire its competitor in providing fuel delivery services in Western Alaska, a deal worth at least $50 million, assistant attorney general Ed Sniffen said Friday.

The proposed buyout resulted in an antitrust lawsuit filed last year in Alaska Superior Court in Nome. The Alaska Village Electric Cooperative Inc. and members of the Western Alaska Fuel Group contend that if the acquisition went through, Crowley would have a monopoly over fuel delivery in the rural villages it serves and prices would rise.

Western Alaska villages, accessible only by air and water, are highly dependent on fuel shipments, especially during winter.

The consent decree mailed to the Nome court Thursday represents an agreement between Crowley, Yukon Fuel and the state. The court will have 60 days to hear objections to the proposal before ruling, Sniffen said.

"The sale as proposed would violate our antitrust law and give them too much market power," Sniffen said. "We're pleased that Crowley was agreeable to the provisions. We believe it will protect competition out there."

The agreement calls for Crowley to sell tug boats, barges and 4 million gallons of fuel storage capacity to another company, Delta Western, which is based in Seattle. Crowley also must offer Delta Western 29 percent of any additional storage capacity Crowley adds to its Bethel facilities and allow competitors access to fuel storage facilities in Nome, Kotzebue and St. Michael.

The value of the assets to be sold under the agreement is confidential, Sniffen said.

He said the investigation into the buyout and the negotiations with the fuel companies had been going on since March.

"It wasn't without some resistance," he said. "We kept asking for concessions from Crowley that they were unwilling to give. Several times we got to the point where I thought this deal wasn't going to happen."

Mark Miller, a spokesman for Oakland, Calif.-based Crowley, said he was not able to comment on the agreement. He said, though, the company was continuing to pursue the buyout.

The consent decree is independent of the antitrust lawsuit, although if the court agrees with the proposal, it may affect the suit, Sniffen said.

Meera Kohler, executive director of the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, was not in her office on Friday and could not comment. She has previously said the sale could drive up the price of fuel and electricity.