FOR RELEASE:  September 15, 1995      CONTACT:  Thomas C. DeRocco 
                                                    (202)208-3983 
                                               Michael L. Baugher
                                                    (303)231-3162
                                                                  
      
          MMS'S NEW ROYALTY POLICY COMMITTEE ELECTS FIRST         
                       OFFICERS, SETS COURSE

       The Director of the U.S. Department of the Interior's
Minerals Management Service (MMS), Cynthia Quarterman, announced
that the agency's Royalty Policy Committee elected at its first
meeting Don Hoffman, who represents the State of Montana, as its
Chairman and David Blackmon, of the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas
Association, Vice-Chairman.  The Committee met in Denver,
September 12-13.

  "The 28-member committee--comprised of representatives from the
Western Governors Association, Western States Land Commissioners
Association, involved states, Indian tribes and allottee
associations, the minerals industry, the interested public and
federal agencies--was established to provide recommendations and
guidance on royalty management policies and procedures to the
Secretary of the Interior and the MMS Director," said Quarterman.

  The committee established subcommittees for each of eight
separate issues including:

      Royalty Reporting and Production Accounting
      Valuation
      Audit
      Appeals, Settlements, Alternative Dispute Resolution
      Non-Conventional Alternatives
      Disbursements and Net Receipt Sharing
      Coal
      Phosphate, Trona and other leasable solid minerals

  "These are important issues for MMS and our stakeholders," said
Quarterman. "The Committee has set an ambitious agenda, and we
look forward to working with them to make the royalty program
even more efficient and cost-effective."

  The Royalty Policy Committee joins the Outer Continental Shelf
Policy Committee, the Gulf of Mexico Offshore Advisory Committee
and the Outer Continental Shelf Scientific Committee as members
of the Minerals Management Advisory Board.

        While subcommittees may meet independently, the next
meeting of the full committee is tentatively set for late
January.

  Meeting participants and attendees heard Director Quarterman
announce the first in a series of innovations designed to
streamline the MMS while benefitting industry. She declared that
effective October 1, MMS will change how it assesses charges on
late and erroneous royalty and production reports on federal and
Indian lands. 

  Under this new policy, MMS will no longer charge companies for
filing royalty and production reports late and will no longer
charge them for erroneous reports unless their overall monthly
error rate exceeds the average Fiscal Year 1995 level.

  Although assessments on late reporting are being relaxed,
Quarterman cautioned that MMS will continue to impose interest
charges and civil penalties for payments that are late.

  MMS is the federal agency the manages the Nation's natural gas,
oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf,
and collects and disburses revenues associated with mineral
leases on federal and Indian land.
                              -MMS-