Texas has large resources of oil and natural gas that remain unrecovered. Unlike exploration and development in the past, today's remaining resource base does not depend on the discovery of large new fields; rather, the resource base becomes producible reserves by focusing on relatively small production increments. Economic efficiencies can be obtained through the transfer and application of technology, both existing technology and techniques that are as yet undeveloped.

Grabens overlying diapirs have previously been ascribed to intrusion, withdrawal, or dissolution of salt. We propose, however, that many grabens or half grabens above diapirs form by regional thin-skinned extension of a brittle overburden. This regional extension can initiate and promote piercement of diapiric walls through extremely thick overburdens. This Piercement induced by faulting applies regardless of the overburden density.

The Gas Research Institute, U.S. Department of Energy, and the State of Texas cooperated in joint-venture research to evaluate the infield reserve growth potential of mature gas fields containing conventional reservoirs. Whole cores from fluvial (middle Frio) and deltaic (Vicksburg and Wilcox) reservoirs of the Gulf Coast Basin were compared to diverse types of well logs, analyzed for diagenetic alteration, and calibrated to porosity, permeability, and petrophysical parameters.