U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Communications

NEWS RELEASE

MMS TO HOLD WORKSHOP ON FEDERAL GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

        The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) will hold a workshop on October 7, in Sacramento, California, to address valuation methods for geothermal resources on federal lands. The workshop will be at the Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza, 300 J Street, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.

        The workshop is open to the public and is intended to provide a forum to discuss methods of valuing geothermal resources that are not subject to sales transactions, (that is, the ‘no sales’ resources).

        The MMS announced its intent to amend the current valuation rules in a Federal Register notice on August 19, 1999. In the notice, the MMS offered three alternatives as a starting point for discussion. They are: 1) modification of the existing netback valuation procedure, 2) a rate-of-return method, and 3) a percentage-of-revenue method. In addition, the agency wants to explore and discuss new and different valuation methods.

        The MMS is also seeking comments on options to the ‘alternative fuel’ method used to value the ‘no sales’ direct utilization resources. Alternative valuation methods should derive a value for the resource that reflects its market value.

        For workshop reservations please call Charles Brook, at (303) 275-7250. He may also be contacted via email at charles.brook@mms.gov , or by writing MMS, c/o Royalty Valuation Division, P.O. Box 25165, MS 3152, Denver, Colorado 80225-0165.

        Minutes of the session will be posted on the MMS website at www.rmp.mms.gov.

        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.

-MMS-

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