U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

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FOR RELEASE: August 24, 1999 Barney Congdon
(504) 736-2595

Caryl Fagot
(504) 736-2590

Debra Winbush
(504) 736-2597

News Desk Alert:

Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 174 Receives 177 Bids on 153 Tracts

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service announced at 10 a.m. today that it has received 177 bids on 153 tracts offered in the Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 174. Last year’s Sale 171, held on August 26, 1998, received 486 bids on 402 tracts. MMS Director Walt Rosenbusch will conduct interviews at the sale.

Lease Sale 174 will take place tomorrow, August 25, 1999, at 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Conference Center (Cabildo Rooms), 500 Poydras Plaza, New Orleans, Louisiana. The sale will be broadcast on the following radio stations from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on the day of the sale under the sponsorship of The Offshore Oil Scouts Association:

KNON (89.3 FM) in Dallas
KRVS (88.7 FM) in Lafayette
KTSU (90.9 FM) in Houston
WTUL (91.5 FM) in New Orleans

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 mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-GOM-

MMS's Website Address: www.mms.gov
24 Hour Fax-on-Demand Service: 202-219-1703