FOR RELEASE:  July 6, 1994           CONTACT:  Michael L. Baugher
                                                   (303) 231-3162
                                                              or
                                                Thomas C. DeRocco
                                                   (202) 208-3983

        DOI'S MMS CONDUCTS ROYALTY-IN-KIND CRUDE OIL SALE (#40048)


     The Department of the Interior offered more than 119 million
barrels of federal offshore crude oil to refiners at a
Royalty-In-Kind sale in Denver, Colorado, last week.

     Through its Minerals Management Service's Royalty Management
 Program, Interior offered to sell 108,812 barrels of
Royalty-In-Kind crude oil, per day, for three years beginning
November 1, 1994.  Of the 19 participating companies, 14 were
successful.

     "The preservation of small businesses and the jobs they create
is one of this administration's primary goals," said MMS Director
Tom Fry.  "Selling Royalty-In-Kind oil is one effective tool we're
using to accomplish that objective."

     Eleven companies are scheduled to receive 82,935 barrels of
crude produced from Gulf of Mexico federal offshore leases (worth
an estimated $1.1 million at today's prices) each day. 

     Three companies will get a total of 25,877 barrels per day
(worth more than $250,000 a day at current prices) for the next
three years from Pacific federal offshore leases.

     Royalty-In-Kind oil is oil accepted by the Department of the
Interior's Minerals Management Service in lieu of cash royalties
from companies producing oil from leases located on federal onshore
and offshore lands.  Recipient refiners pay for the oil at a
fair-market price, providing the federal government with no less
than it would have received had it accepted cash royalty payments. 
Additionally, recipient refiners pay costs of operating the program
through administrative fees. 
 
     The Department of the Interior conducted similar sales in 1983
and 1987, to assure that small, independent refiners had an
adequate supply of equitably-priced crude oil. When a need is
determined, the MMS conducts a sale of RIK oil to eligible
refiners.      

     Last year MMS collected and simultaneously sold, more than $66
million worth of oil through its RIK program.

     Another RIK oil sale is projected to offer onshore crude oil
from the North-Central Area (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Utah
and Wyoming) next year. 

     MMS is the agency which manages and regulates the nation's
natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer
Continental Shelf, and which collects and disburses royalties from
onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.

     Companies scheduled to purchase federal offshore RIK oil
beginning November 1 are:

     Offshore Gulf of Mexico

     Age Refining, Inc.,  San Antonio, TX
     Barrett Refining Corporation,  Shawnee, OK
     Calcasieu Refining Company,  Houston, TX
     Canal Refining Company,  Tulsa, OK
     Gary-Williams Energy Corporation,  Denver, CO
     Giant Industries Arizona, Inc.,  Scottsdale, AZ
     Gold Line Refining, Ltd.,  Houston, TX
     LL&E Petroleum Marketing, Inc.,  New Orleans, LA
     Longview Refining Associates,Inc.,  Longview, TX
     Placid Refining Company,  Port Allen, LA
     St. Marks Refinery, Inc.,  St. Marks, FL

     Offshore Pacific

     Book Cliffs Energy Corporation,  Green River, UT
     Hydrocarbon Processing, Inc.,  Houston, TX
     U.S. Oil and Refining Company,  Los Angeles, CA


                              -MMS-
Subject: PR-07/06/94 Royalty-In-Kind/DOI's MMS Conducts Royalty-In-
Kind Crude Oil Sale (#40048)