Headquartered in Washington, DC,[2] the Agency received most of its revenue from leasing federal lands and waters to oil and natural gas companies with a profit margin of 98%.

[10] As the MMS (before transition to BOEMRE), the Agency's signature feature according to an informational trifold was that it had "become our Nation's leader in offshore energy development and the collection of royalties on behalf of the American Public.

[3] In January 1983, Congress passed the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act with the stated purpose:[11] To ensure that all oil and gas originated on the public lands and on the Outer Continental Shelf are properly accounted for under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and for other purposes.The Secretary of the Interior at the time, James G. Watt, designated MMS as the administrative agency responsible for execution of activities under the Act.

[23] In 2003, the General Accounting Office (GAO) noted that the MMS had failed to develop "clear strategic objectives linked to statutory requirements nor collected the necessary information to effectively monitor and evaluate the Royalty-in-Kind Program".

[29] Computer systems in use by the Agency were considered to be sufficiently inadequate that a failure to report revenue or provide RIK by an industry member could not be reliably detected.

[16] According to Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, there may be a conflict of interest for the Minerals Management Service to collect revenue and also oversee safety.

In September 2008, reports by the Inspector General of the Interior Department, Earl E. Devaney, were released that implicated over a dozen officials of the MMS of unethical and criminal conduct in the performance of their duties.

[31] The New York Times's summary states the investigation revealed "a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior and a free-for-all atmosphere for much of the Bush administration's watch.

[42][43] The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) alleges that MMS has suffered from a systemic revolving door problem between the Department of Interior and the oil and gas industries.

[47][48][49] On May 11, 2010, in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that MMS would be restructured so that the safety and environmental functions are carried out by a unit with full independence from MMS in order to ensure that federal inspectors will have more tools, resources, and greater authority to enforce laws and regulations that apply to oil and gas companies operating on the Outer Continental Shelf.

[9] S. Elizabeth (Liz) Birnbaum served as the Director of the then named Minerals Management Service from July 15, 2009 to her resignation on May 27, 2010 amidst the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

[54] On June 15, 2010 President Obama named Michael R. Bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and inspector general for the Justice Department, to head up efforts to restructure BOEMRE.

[5] Almost a year later, William K. Reilly, who co-chaired the commission charged with investigating the Horizon blowout, was quoted as saying "they changed the name, but all the people are the same" and "it's embarrassing" in reference to the current situation.