The Mineral Revenues Stewardship Award was established in 1987 to commend exceptional performance by companies that report production and pay royalties for Federal and Indian mineral leases. More than 2,500 companies report production and pay royalties for Federal and Indian mineral leases. In addition to overall accuracy and timeliness of payments and reports, the four companies receiving the Stewardship Award this year have also demonstrated noteworthy cooperation with the Minerals Revenue Management program in resolving issues related to reporting, compliance and enforcement.

The four companies and examples of their exceptional performance during fiscal year 2006 are listed below:

ConocoPhillips submitted more than 1.5 million transactions of royalty and production data during Fiscal Year 2006 and paid approximately $540 million in royalties to the MMS. The company demonstrated quality performance by submitting electronic reports and payments with a royalty reporting accuracy rate of 99.2 percent, and a production reporting accuracy rate of 98.5 percent. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips conducts operations in more than 40 countries.

Shell Exploration and Production Company submitted nearly 40,000 transactions of  royalty and production data during Fiscal Year 2006 and paid more than $175 million in royalties to MMS. The company submitted electronic reports and payments with a royalty reporting accuracy rate of 96 percent, and a production reporting accuracy rate of 96.4 percent. Shell Exploration and Production Company, also headquartered in Houston, is part of a global group of energy and petrochemical companies operating in more than 140 countries.

XTO Energy Inc. submitted more than 137,000 transactions of royalty and production data during the fiscal year and paid approximately $62.7 million in royalties. XTO Energy boasted a royalty reporting accuracy rate of 99.8 percent, and a production reporting accuracy rate of 96.6 percent. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, XTO Energy Inc. is a domestic natural gas producer with operations throughout Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Alaska, Utah and Louisiana.

Foundation Wyoming Land Company extracted approximately 50 million tons of coal from Federal leases and paid MMS a total of $40 million in rents, royalties and bonuses during 2006. The company boasted an error-free record for reporting, and achieved a 100 percent timeliness rate for submittal of royalty payments. Foundation Wyoming Land Company is a subsidiary of Foundation Coal Holdings Inc., a coal producer that operates a group of 14 mines located in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Illinois.