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

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) today announced that it had distributed over $617 million to 36 states during 1997, more than in any previous year.  The money represents the states' cumulative share of revenues collected for mineral production on federal lands located within their borders and from federal offshore oil and gas tracts adjacent to their shores.

"Amounts vary according to production and market prices, but this has been a record year," said MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman.  "This year, MMS distributed $89 million more than in 1996, and $144 million more than in 1995."

A state is entitled to a share of the mineral revenues collected from federal lands located within that state's boundaries.  For the majority of federal lands, states and the federal government share the revenues: 50 percent to the state, 40 percent to the Reclamation Fund for water projects, and 10 percent to the U.S. Treasury.  One exception, Alaska, gets a 90-percent share, as prescribed by the Alaska Statehood Act.  Certain coastal states with federal offshore tracts adjacent to their seaward boundaries receive 27 percent of those mineral royalties as well.  Remaining offshore revenues are deposited in special accounts of the U.S. Treasury, including the General Fund, the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Historic Preservation Fund.

MMS is the Federal Agency that manages the Nation's oil and gas and other mineral resources on the OCS and collects, accounts for, and disburses about $6 billion yearly in revenues from Federal offshore leases and Federal and Indian onshore mineral leases.