ho is the Minerals
Management Service?
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), a Federal agency created by Secretarial Order
3071 on January 19, 1982, shoulders significant responsibilities in managing the natural
and economic resources of America. MMS manages more than a billion offshore acres and
collects billions of dollars in mineral revenues annually. As one of two primary missions,
MMS runs the Federal government's program for managing mineral resources on the Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS). Since 1953 more than 9 billion barrels of domestic oil and 93
trillion cubic feet of gas have been brought from under the ocean floor and into the U.S.
economy, and nearly $100 billion. These funds, the largest Federal revenue source outside
the U.S. Treasury Department, in turn are distributed to Indian Tribes and allocated
States, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, and the
general U.S. Treasury.
Royalty Management, MMS's other major mission, has collected and distributed more than
$54 billion in bonuses, rents, and royalties from companies that lease and produce
minerals from Federal lands, both onshore and offshore, and from Indian lands. MMS has
provided a major source of revenue to the U.S. Treasury and stewardship for about $9.1
billion that was distributed to States, Indian Tribes, and Indian allottees. Each program
is truly dynamic, highly visible, and complex. Each has required dramatic changes to
better meet its mission. And each is much older than the agency now responsible for it.
Minerals Revenue Management
In January 1982, MMS was created within the Department of the Interior from the
Conservation Division of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to improve management of
Federal leasing revenues. This action elevated royalty management from a program within a
division in the USGS to a bureau-level mission. It reflected one of the changes
recommended by the five-member Commission on Fiscal Accountability of the Nation's Energy
Resources. The Commission, assembled in July 1981, studied the long history of royalty
management and previous recommendations for improvements, and within 5 months made 60
recommendations of its own. The Commission findings became major guideposts for MMS's
Royalty Management Program (RMP).
Offshore Energy and Minerals
Management (OEMM) Program
In May 1982, Federal offshore minerals management--another responsibility deemed to be in
need of organizational change--became part of MMS. One of America's responses to the oil
embargo of 1973 was a sharply increased interest in Federal offshore oil and gas
resources. Functions related to managing Federal offshore energy and mineral resources,
however, were scattered among the USGS, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the
Interior Department's Office of OCS Program Coordination. All these functions were
consolidated to form MMS's Offshore Energy and Minerals Management (OEMM) program. The offshore oil
and gas leasing program helps the United States reach many of its energy-related goals.
For example:
- Federal OCS leases currently supply a quarter of U.S. production of natural gas and
about one-eighth of oil, a significant contribution to our Nation's economic strength and
national security.
- This domestic OCS production offsets uncertain and often costly energy imports and the
requirement for more expensive energy alternatives such as synthetic liquid fuels for
transportation or electricity for space heating.
- Natural gas reserves in the OCS are currently estimated at 44.5 trillion cubic feet,
about one-fourth of all U.S. gas reserves; and oil reserves are estimated to be 4.8
billion barrels, about one-sixth of domestic oil reserves.
- Estimates of economically recoverable oil and gas resources yet to be discovered in the
OCS are 22 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or one quarter of all undiscovered domestic
resources.
The organizational changes that brought MMS to life in 1982 gave each of its programs a
sharper focus, a higher profile within the Department, a new dedication of purpose, and
the means for streamlining and improving its operations.
For more information, please write or call us at:
Office of Public Affairs
Minerals Management Service
U.S. Department of Interior
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394
(504) 736-2595 (local) or 1-800-200-GULF
E-Mail:
Gulf of Mexico Region Public Information Office
Regional Offices
Alaska
949 East 36th Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99508
(907) 271-6070 |
Lakewood - Royalty
Management Program
6th Avenue and Kipling Street
Denver Federal Center, Building 85
Post Office Box 25165
Lakewood, Colorado 80255
(303) 231-3162 |
Gulf of Mexico Region
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394
1-800-200-GULF
(504) 736-2519 |
Washington, D.C.,
Public Affairs
Minerals Management Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C. 20240
(202) 208-3983 |
Pacific
770 Paseo Camarillo
Camarillo, California 93010
(805) 389-7520 |