TOP MINERAL RESOURCE COMPANIES RECOGNIZED BY MMS

    Today, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) presented the 1998 Secretary of the Interior's Mineral Revenues Stewardship Award to four mineral resource companies for superior achievement in electronic royalty and production reporting.

    Devon Energy Corporation of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; North American Resources of Butte, Montana; Yates Petroleum Corporation and Yates Drilling Company of Artesia, New Mexico; and MacPherson Oil Company of Bakersfield, California, received the award at a ceremony in Denver, Colorado.

    The Mineral Revenues Stewardship Award recognizes exceptional performances by companies that report production and pay royalties for federal and Indian minerals leases. More than 1,600 companies submit reports of mineral sales and production and pay royalties for minerals that are sold or removed from these leases.

    "I applaud these companies for their outstanding payment and reporting records," remarked Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Sylvia Baca. "Their standards of excellence have saved taxpayers' money, helped us meet our obligation to responsibly manage revenues associated with our Nation's mineral resources, and enhanced the viability of this nation's energy program." Baca further remarked, "They were the best in the business last year. In fact, Devon, Yates and MacPherson, are receiving this award for a second time."

    The award is given to one large company and one small company in each of two categories: royalty reporting and production reporting. A large company reports more than 25,000 lines of data; a small company reports less than 25,000 data lines. Consideration is given only to companies who report electronically. Selections are based on the accuracy of submissions to MMS.

    For royalty reporters, Devon Energy Corporation recorded the lowest error rate of .6 percent for a large company, and North American Resources recorded the lowest error rate of 1.0 percent for a small company. For production reporting, Yates Petroleum Corporation and Yates Drilling Company had the lowest error rate of .2 percent for a large company, and MacPherson Oil Company had the lowest error rate of .2 percent for a small company.

     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 last year disbursed about $6 billion in revenues from federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.