The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service today announced that major royalty payors and State and Tribal governments have joined with MMS to reengineer the Royalty Management Program. "AMOCO, Chevron USA Production Company, Texaco, the States of Utah and Colorado, and the Ute Tribe have agreed to be full working partners with the MMS reengineering implementation teams," said MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman. Beginning in 1999, MMS will model its reengineered royalty management process offshore with the help of Amoco, Texaco, and Chevron. Also in 1999, MMS will operate similar onshore models with Utah, Colorado, and the Ute Tribe. In addition, there will be a solid minerals operating model.

MMS recently issued its Road Map to the 21st Century, a publication which presents a new concept for RMP operations and describes the actions necessary to move from concept to reality over the next three years. RMP is now deploying several multidisciplinary teams to apply these concepts in a live, operational environment. Quarterman said, "Our partners in industry, States and Tribes will help us to refine our business, delineate streamlined reporting requirements and leverage information technology to achieve our objectives in the 21st century."

Amoco official Bob Wilkinson stated, "Amoco believes it is always beneficial to work upfront with the MMS in development of their new processes." Lucy Querques Denett, Associate Director for Royalty Management added that "our partners bring experience, cutting-edge technology and genuine desire to make this important relationship work better now and in the future."

"We are dramatically reengineering our financial and compliance processes to manage the nation’s mineral lease revenues in the 21st Century better," said Querques Denett. "The RMP of the future will be highly integrated, focused on outcomes and positioned to provide the very best royalty management services at less cost," added Querques Denett.

The Roadmap to the 21st Century is on the MMS website at www.mrm.mms.gov/reengweb/mmsrmp.htm.