FOR RELEASE:  January 31, 1994           CONTACT:   Tom DeRocco
                                                 (202) 208-3983
                                                       or
                                             Michael L. Baugher
                                                 (303) 231-3162

          MMS ANNOUNCES BLACKFEET NATION PARTICIPATION
          IN INDIAN MINERALS COOPERATIVE AUDIT PROGRAM (#40007)

     The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service
today announced that it will reimburse the Blackfeet Indian
Nation as much as $110,000 during Fiscal Year 1994 for auditing
costs while participating in the MMS's Cooperative Audit Program.

     The addition of the Blackfeet Nation, which is located east
of Glacier National Park in western Montana, brings the number of
participating tribes to seven, including the Arapaho, the
Shoshone, the Navajo Nation, the Ute, the Southern Ute, and the
Ute Mountain Ute.

     The program enables a tribe to join with MMS in providing
additional audit coverage of revenues derived from oil, gas and
other mineral leases located on tribal land.

     "I am pleased to announce that the Blackfeet Nation has
joined our auditing team," said MMS Director Tom Fry.  "Sharing
resources and information through this working partnership
increases our auditing coverage and effectiveness," he added.

     In recent years more than $150 million in mineral revenues
have been collected from Indian leases annually.

     Under provisions of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty
Management Act of 1982, the MMS reimburses participating Indian
tribes for costs of cooperative audits, such as salaries and
travel expenses.

     The MMS is responsible for the collection, accounting for
and disbursement of nearly $4 billion annually in mineral
revenues from federal and Indian lands.

                           --MMS-RMP--

Subject: PR-1/31/94 Sec. 202/Blackfeet Nation to Participate in
Co-op Audit Prgm(#40007)