Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 182 Receives 697 Bids on 506 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 697 bids from 69 companies on 506 tracts offered in the Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 182.

Lease Sale 182 will take place tomorrow, March 20, 2002 at 9 a.m. at the Sheraton Hotel (Grand Ballroom "C" - Fifth Floor), 500 Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana.

New MMS Director, Johnnie Burton will be introduced at the sale.

This sale will be WebCast as follows:

• GoGulfTV has announced it will have an Internet video broadcast of Minerals Management Service Lease Sale 182 available at www.gogulf.net beginning at 6:00 P.M. on March 20, 2002. Viewers can download the complete broadcast free of charge for viewing at their convenience.
  
• Through Andersen at www.energyleasesale.com. Webcast includes live audio streaming, reporting functionality, and interactive map.
  

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 revenues totaled nearly $10 billion in 2001 and more than $120 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.