U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Gulf of Mexico OCS Region
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
| October 18, 2001 |
Oil and Gas Leasing Procedures Guidelines,
Outer Continental Shelf
The Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announced today the release of the publication Oil and Gas Leasing Procedures Guidelines, Outer Continent Shelf (OCS Report MMS 2001-076), which offers guidelines to make it easy for applicants in the oil and gas industry to submit documents for approval.
Beginning with a background on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas leasing program, the guide book discusses how to qualify as an OCS bidder, lessee, assignee or operator; how MMS assigns company numbers; qualification files; and bond requirements, including surety specifications and oil spill financial responsibilities.
The report offers a description of how the OCS is organized into planning areas and lease blocks. It leads the reader step-by-step through the oil and gas lease sale process from the first sale notice through bidding procedures, and the bid evaluation process. Issuance of leases for oil and gas and other minerals is discussed, as well as their term, suspensions of operations and production, lease consolidation, and rental and royalty payments. The publication explains the process of transferring interests in leases and relinquishing leases. A chapter is devoted pipelines – rights-of-way applications, bonding, rental, assignments, relinquishments, and abandonments. The two final chapters contain information on the Fishermen's Contingency Fund and on OCS information resources in the Public Information Office of the MMS Gulf of Mexico OCS Region.
The book contains many examples of executed applications for various matters in a series of 57 full-page exhibits. A flow chart details the various steps of the approval processes. The complete publication is available for downloading at the GOMR website, www.gomr.mms.gov. Paper copies of the report are available at $10 each, and can be obtained from the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region at
| Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Public Information Office (MS 5034) 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394 Telephone requests may be placed at (504) 736-2519 or 1-800-200-GULF or FAX: (504) 736-2620 |
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 disbursements totaled nearly $8 billion last year and more than $110 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-
MMS's Website Address: http://www.mms.gov
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