FOR RELEASE:  November 4, 1994              CONTACT:  Tom DeRocco
                                                   (202) 208-3983
                                                         or
                                               Michael L. Baugher
                                                   (303) 231-3162

          MMS ANNOUNCES JICARILLA APACHE PARTICIPATION
          IN INDIAN MINERALS COOPERATIVE AUDIT PROGRAM (#40086)

     The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service
(MMS) today announced that it will reimburse the Jicarilla Apache
Indian Tribe as much as $142,147 during Fiscal Year 1995 for
auditing costs while participating in the MMS' Cooperative Audit
Program.

     The addition of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, which is located
in northern New Mexico, brings the number of participating tribes
to eight, including the Arapaho, the Shoshone, the Blackfeet
Nation, the Navajo Nation, the Ute, the Southern Ute and the Ute
Mountain Ute. 

     The program enables a tribe to form a partnership with MMS and
provide additional audit coverage of revenues derived from oil, gas
and other mineral leases located on tribal land.

     "We welcome the Jicarilla Apache Tribe to our auditing team,"
said Acting MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman. "We have had a
long-term relationship sharing auditing responsibilities which are
of great importance to the Department of the Interior as well as to
the tribe," she added, "and this agreement will strengthen that
relationship.  This agreement reflects the administration's
commitment to an equal partnership with American Indian tribes."

     In recent years more than $150 million in mineral revenues
have been collected from Indian leases annually.

     Under provisions of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management
Act of 1982, the MMS reimburses participating Indian tribes for
costs of cooperative audits, such as salaries and travel expenses. 

     MMS is the agency which manages and regulates the nation's
natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS), and which collects and disburses nearly $4
billion annually in revenues from OCS leases and from onshore
leases on Federal and Indian lands.
     
                           --MMS-RMP--

Subject: PR-11/04/94 RMP/MMS Announces Jicarilla Apache
Participation in Indian Minerals Cooperative Audit Program (#40086)