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May 2001

TDI-Brooks Funds Heat Flow Research at Texas Tech University

TDI-Brooks has funded a proposal by Dr. Seiichi Nagihara of Texas Tech University entitled "Application of Marine Geothermal Data in Oil and Gas Exploration". The goal of this project is to generate a technical publication that outlines the methodologies for applying marine geothermal measurements to oil and gas exploration. TDI-Brooks will provide Texas Tech portions of our Gulf of Mexico heat flow results for incorporation into this study.

The chapters in the paper will include:

(1) techniques for marine geothermal heat flow data acquisition and processing;

(2) hydrocarbon maturation analyses based on marine geothermal measurements and computer simulation of sediment accumulations processes;

(3) estimation of the regional, background, heat flow and the thermal history of sedimentary basins based on geothermal measurements and computer simulations;

(4) application of geothermal measurements in subsalt hydrocarbon exploration; and

(5) predicting natural occurrences of gas hydrates in marine sediments based on geothermal measurements and seismic imaging.

The project is to be completed by February 28, 2002.