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


FOR RELEASE: August 26, 1997 CONTACT: Barney Congdon
(504) 736-2595
Carla Langley
(504) 736-2775

News Desk Alert:

Lease Sale 168 Sets All Time Western Gulf of Mexico Record
for Number of Bids and Number of Tracts Bid On

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service announced at 10 a.m. today that it has received 1,224 bids on 804 tracts offered in the Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 168.

Comparative Western Lease Sales
Sale 161 September 25, 1996 929 bids on 617 tracts
Sale 74 August 24, 1983 773 bids on 436 tracts
Sale 122 August 27, 1989 676 bids on 488 tracts
Sale 84 July 18, 1984 593 bids on 402 tracts
Sale 112 August 12, 1987 519 bids on 367 tracts
Sale 125 August 22, 1990 465 bids on 307 tracts

Lease Sale 168 will take place tomorrow, August 27, 1997, at 9 a.m. at the Grand Ball Room, Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana.

MMS is the Federal agency that manages the Nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, and collects, accounts for, and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore Federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-GOM-

Visit our Web Site for Sale Day Results http://www.mms.gov/
24 hour Fax-on-Demand Service: (202) 219-1703