U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region NEWS RELEASE

Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 184 Receives 391 Bids on 323 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 391 bids on 323 tracts from 40 companies in the Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 184.

Lease Sale 184 will take place tomorrow, August 21, 2002 at 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Hotel (Poydras Plaza), in New Orleans, Louisiana.

MMS Director, Johnnie Burton will hold a Press Conference following the sale.

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 184 available at www.gogulf.net on Friday, August 23, 2002.  Viewers can download the complete broadcast free of charge for viewing at their convenience.

- Through IHS Energy – Live Webcast of Lease Sale 184, Wednesday, August 21, 2002 from 8:45 am to Noon. View the Webcast at http://www.ihslognet.com/live.

Please note that the listing of this webcast on this official MMS web site, as well as the actual webcasts of the upcoming MMS lease sales, 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 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.

-MMS-GOM-