U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Communications

NEWS RELEASE

MMS SCHEDULES ADDITIONAL WORKSHOPS ON
ALTERNATIVES TO CRUDE OIL VALUATION

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) today announced the dates and locations of three additional workshops it will host to discuss royalty valuation alternatives to its recently proposed rulemaking for valuing crude oil production from federal leases. These new workshops will provide an opportunity for information exchange with small oil producers at locations near their operations. A notice announcing the workshops will be published in the Federal Register on October 8, 1997.

The new workshops’ schedules are:

Workshop 1: October 16, 1997
Bakersfield District Office
Bureau of Land Management
3801 Pegasus Drive
Bakersfield, CA 93308-6837
(805) 391-6000
1:00pm - 4:30pm

Workshop 2: October 16, 1997
Casper District Office
Bureau of Land Management
1701 East E Street
Casper, WY 82601
(307) 261-7600
1:00pm - 4:30pm

Workshop 3: October 21, 1997
Roswell District Office
Bureau of Land Management
2909 West 2^nd Street
Roswell, NM 88201
(505) 627-0272
1:30 pm - 5:00 pm

On September 22, MMS published a notice in the Federal Register reopening the public comment period for the rulemaking and asking for comments on alternative valuation procedures suggested during the comment periods for the proposed and supplemental proposed rules. The new comment period closes on October 22.

Because space is limited, those interested in attending a workshop should reserve slots with Peter Christnacht, (303) 275-7252, or Sheila Dean, (303) 275-7201.

MMS is the federal agency that manages the Nation’s natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the OCS, and collects, accounts for and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov
MMS's 24 hour Fax-on-Demand Service: (202) 219-1703