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

News Desk Alert:

Western GOM Lease Sale 180 Receives 386 Bids on 320 Tracts
Central GOM Lease Sale 178, Part 2 Receives No Bids

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Region (GOMR) announced at 10 a.m. today that it has received 386 bids on 320 tracts offered in the Western GOM Lease Sale 180.  Forty-four companies submitted bids. Lease Sale 180 ranks fourth in the last ten years on the number of tracts bid on.  No bids were received on gap tracts offered in the Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 178, Part 2.

Western GOM Lease Sale 180 will take place tomorrow, August 22, 2001 at 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Conference Center (Cabildo Rooms) in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.

This sale will be WebCast as follows:

• Through the Offshore Oil Scouts Association at www.oosa.com.  Real Player will need to be installed in order to run the WebCast.
• Through GoGulfTV at www.gogulf.net.  You are requested to register early in order to insure appropriate viewing software and Internet speed.
• Through Arthur Andersen at www.energyleasesale.com.  Webcast includes live audio streaming, reporting functionality, and interactive map.

Please note that the listing of these WebCasts on this official MMS web site as well as the actual WebCasts of the upcoming MMS lease sales do not imply any endorsement by MMS.

MMS is the Federal Agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the Nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in Federal offshore waters.  The Agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and Indian leases.  These collections totaled nearly $8 billion last year and more than $110 billion since the Agency was created in 1982.  Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and Federal park and recreation lands.