FOR RELEASE:  March 24, 1993              CONTACT: Carter Cornick
                                                  (202) 208-3983
                                                        or
                                                   Barney Congdon
                                                   (504) 736-2595

                         HIGH BIDS TOTAL $69 MILLION 
                   IN CENTRAL GULD OF MEXICO LEASE SALE 142
(#30015)

      High bids totaling $69,061,024 were offered today in a
federal offshore oil and natural gas lease sale in the Central Gulf
of Mexico.  A total of 60 companies participated in Sale 142, held
in New Orleans, Louisiana.

      The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service
(MMS) received 261 bids on 201 tracts, comprising approximately
976,083 acres located offshore Alabama, Lousiana, Mississippi, and
Texas.  The total of all bids submitted was $86,044,324.

      "We are pleased to see continued interest in the central Gulf
of Mexico," said Acting MMS Director Carolita Kallaur.  "This means
significant economic benefits to the region and the nation in the
form of increased domestic investment, jobs both onshore and
offshore, and revenues to the federal government and adjacent
States.

      "The offshore energy resources which willl result from this
sale can help stem our eroding natural gas and oil bas reserves and
contribute to the Administration's initiative to increase our use
of natural gas," Kallaur continued.

      Sale 142 is the second federal mineral resource sale under
the 1992-1997 Comprehensive Natural Gas and Oil Resource Management
Program.  Western Gulf Sale 141, held in August 1992, was the
first.

      The Department's 5-Year program targest offshore areas with
the highest potential for recovery of hydrocarbon resources while
protecting marine and coastal habitats.  Estimated recoverable
hydrocarbons expected to be developed through Sale 142 are about
140 million barrels of oil and 1.40 trillion cubic feet of gas.

      The highest bid received was $3,580,000, submitted by Amerada
Hess Corporation for East Cameron South, block 319.  The blocks
receiving the highest number of bids were East Cameron, block 149
and Vermilion South, block 258.  These blocks received 5 bids.

                                     -MMS-
Subject: PR-3/24/93 High Bids total $69M in Sale 142/Sale
142(#30015)