U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Public Affairs

NEWS RELEASE

MMS Announces Industry Awards

        The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced today the winners of the 1999 Safety Award for Excellence (SAFE), the Secretary of the Interior’s Mineral Revenues Stewardship Award, and the Corporate Citizen Award. Held in Houston, Texas, the ceremony combined, for the first time, all of the agency’s annual public honor acknowledgements.

        The 1999 SAFE Award winners are: OXY USA, Inc. and British-Borneo USA, Inc. in the operator category, and Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company, and Island Operating Company Inc. in the Contractor category. The SAFE Award was established by MMS in 1983 to recognize and honor companies that make a concerted effort to train and motivate their employees to conduct offshore operations in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.

        Eight mineral resource companies were presented the Secretary of the Interior’s Mineral Revenues Stewardship Award for their superior records in electronic royalty reporting and production reporting in 1999. Honors went to: Devon Energy Corporation of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Chieftain International (U.S.) Inc. of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Dallas, Texas; CBP San Juan Limited Partnership of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Yates Petroleum Corporation and Yates Drilling Company of Artesia, New Mexico; Kukui Operating Company of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Houston, Texas; Northern Production Company of Gillette, Wyoming; Pacificorp Electric Operations of Salt Lake City, Utah; and OCI Wyoming, L.P. of Green River, Wyoming. Since 1987, the Department of the Interior has been commending exceptional performances by companies that report production and pay royalties for federal and Indian mineral leases to MMS. More than 2000 companies submit reports of mineral sales and production and pay royalties for minerals that are sold or removed from these lands.

        "With sincere appreciation for their achievements we applaud these companies for their professionalism," said award presenter Sylvia Baca, Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. "They have not only contributed to a harmonic partnership between the federal government and industry, but also enhanced the viability of our Nation’s energy program."

        MMS also announced Anadarko Petroleum Company as the winner of the Corporate Citizen Award, an honor given to an outstanding lessee in both offshore operating performance and fiscal responsibility.

        "These prestigious awards recognize exemplary company performance and corporate commitment to safe offshore oil and gas operations and royalty and production reporting," said MMS Director Walt Rosenbusch. "The winners of these awards represent the best that industry has to offer and set a standard that all companies should strive to achieve."

        Also recognized at today’s awards program were the winners of the MMS Corporate Leadership Award, previously annouced by MMS in February 2000. A list of the winners can be viewed on the MMS website at http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2000/020300-2.htm. Complete information about the MMS awards program is available at www.mms.gov/awards.

        MMS is the federal agency that manages the nation’s oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf, and collects, accounts for, and last year disbursed about $4 billion in revenues from federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-

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