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

NEWS RELEASE

MMS EXPANDS INTERNET HOMEPAGE,
INCLUDES ROYALTY-IN-KIND PILOT INFORMATION

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) is announcing the addition of a new page to their website, the Royalty-In-Kind (RIK) Study Pilots page. It is located at http://www.mrm.mms.gov/RIKweb.

The site describes the agency's current study of the feasibility and practicality of RIK, an innovative alternative to cash collection of royalties due on oil and gas produced from Federal lands. The study will help identify conditions and locations that might be favorable to taking the Federal government's royalty share of oil and gas production in kind rather than in cash.

The site also provides background information on MMS' study as well as identifying the three planned RIK pilots and criteria for determining the feasibility of RIK for Federal oil and gas leases.

The MMS uses the world wide web to help keep States, industry, customers, and the general public informed about its activities and responsibilities.

The MMS is the Federal agency that manages the Nation's oil and gas and other mineral resources on the OCS and collects, accounts for, and last year disbursed about $6 billion in revenues from Federal offshore leases and Federal and Indian onshore mineral leases.

-MMS-

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