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

Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 187 Receives 407 Bids on 335 Tracts

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 407 bids on 335 tracts from 52 companies in the Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 187.  The lease sale will take place tomorrow, August 20, 2003, at 9 a.m. at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel (Grand Ballroom), in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton will hold a Press Conference following the bid reading in the Grand Chenier room to discuss the results of the sale.  In addition, the Secretary will take questions from the press corps.

This sale will be WebCast as follows:

• GoGulfTV has announced it will have highlights of an Internet video broadcast of Minerals Management Service Lease Sale 187 available at www.gogulf.net.  Viewers can download the complete broadcast free of charge for viewing at their convenience.

• Through the Offshore Oil Scouts Association at www.oosa.com.  Real Player or Windows Media Player 6.4 or higher will need to be installed in order to run the Web cast.

Please note that the listing of this webcast on the official MMS web site, as well as the actual webcasts of the upcoming MMS lease sales is provided as a courtesy for the public and does 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 American Indian leases.  These revenues totaled over $6 billion in 2002 and nearly $127 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.

MMS Main Website:  www.mms.gov
Gulf of Mexico Website:  www.gomr.mms.gov