[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 29 (Friday, February 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7487-7488]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-3730]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Outer Continental Shelf, Central Gulf of Mexico; Notice of 
Bidding Systems, Sale 172

Notice of Bidding Systems

    Section 8(a)(8) (43 U.S.C. 1337(a)(8)) of the Outer Continental 
Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) requires that, at least 30 days before any 
lease sale, a Notice be submitted to the Congress and published in the 
Federal Register.

[[Page 7488]]

    This Notice of Bidding Systems is for Sale 172, Central Gulf of 
Mexico, scheduled to be held in March 1999, as well as for all future 
sales, until and unless notice is given that an alternative system will 
be adopted.
    The Minerals Management Service has mainly used the cash bonus bid 
with a fixed royalty rate since 1978. The 1978 law requiring notice of 
the bidding systems and the rationale behind each system anticipated 
the use of many different systems. We have determined, and explained 
previously, that the system currently in use best meets our mission 
objectives. Unless the MMS publishes a Notice announcing use of a 
different bidding system, we will continue to use the cash bonus/fixed 
royalty rate system for future sales. The specific blocks offered under 
each system will be shown on the ``Lease Terms and Economic 
Conditions'' map that is prepared for each lease sale.
Cynthia Quarterman,
Director, Minerals Management Service.

    Approved: February 10, 1999.
Sylvia V. Baca,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Land and Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 99-3730 Filed 2-11-99; 9:48 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-M