WATCHING WASHINGTON OCS SALE PLANS

Regardless of conflicting reports, the Minerals Management Service is considering offering less acreage in Gulf of Mexico lease sales.

In an interview with Oil & Gas Journal, MMS Director Barry Williamson said he will decide on whether to tighten the focus on gulf sales within a couple of months.

"What I'm trying to determine is what the appropriate acreage is to offer, whether that is more or less." He stressed he will give oil companies "the maximum opportunity to tell us what land they're interested in."

MMS GOAL

Williamson said MMS wants to develop the resource base in the gulf in the best manner possible, taking into consideration changes in the province.

"You're seeing the Gulf of Mexico becoming more mature," he said. "We're learning more about the resource base. There's a lot of activity in deep water that we don't know as much about but we want to see continue. And we're seeing independents come to the gulf."

Williamson said the first draft of the next 5 year leasing plan, which was delayed since last March to await President Bush's decision on several offshore sales (OGJ, July 2, p. 26), won't appear as soon as previously expected.

He now says intraagency reviews will delay issuance of the draft until late in the fall, but MMS still will meet the July 1992 deadline for the final schedule.

He predicted the plan will contain several Gulf of Mexico sales and "probably not as many sales in Alaska, but that's because of low industry interest."

He expects there will be sales in the Chukchi Sea, a couple of sales in the Beaufort Sea, a Norton basin sale, and probably a Bering Sea sale.

"A lot of industry interest is in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas," Williamson said. "The Chukchi is an exciting place. We can have potential resources in the Chukchi similar to the North Sea. There's a tremendous resource potential there.

"Obviously, its tough to operate there because you have the ice moving back and forth. From an economic standpoint, you have to have a large reserve."

Another administration initiative, sharing of federal offshore revenues with coastal governments, will be delayed until next spring.

Williamson said there is not enough time to develop a proposal with any possibility for passage before Congress adjourns this fall.

He said the administration is convinced coastal communities and counties should share the fiscal benefits of offshore development commensurate with its impact on them.

DIALOGUE ON ISSUES

Williamson will be pressing to get the oil industry, environmental groups, and coastal communities to meet each other half way on offshore leasing issues.

For instance, the MMS director was understandably busy the day Bush announced his offshore leasing decision. So he decided to brief industry and environmental representatives in a single meeting.

"I told them, 'This is the first time I can remember that we've had a serious briefing on an issue with environmental groups and energy industry together. Look around the table. That's who you are going to be doing business with during this administration-the guy next to you. And you might as well get used to it.'"