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:

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