Abstract: The gas face seal includes a housing defining an annular cavity, an annular face seal ring fixed to the housing for limited axial movement within the cavity, an opposed annular shoulder and a retainer for fixing the annular shoulder to a shaft for rotation therewith. The shoulder and face seal ring define opposed, radially extending surfaces. One of the surfaces includes a plurality of equally spaced, circumferentially extending inclined recesses. The surface further defines a plurality of radially extending feed slots which open through an outside diameter of the shoulder or face seal ring. In one embodiment, the inclined recesses extend circumferentially in both directions from the radially extending slots and the seal is bidirectional.