For the last several years, the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) has analyzed the geopressured tertiary sandstones along the Texas Gulf Coast with the objective of locating prospective reservoirs from which geothermal energy could be recovered. Of the "geothermal fairways" (areas with thick sandstone bodies and estimated temperatures in excess of 3OO0F), the Brazoria fairway appears most promising and the Austin Bayou Prospect has been developed within this fairway-l A test well (DOE 1 Martin Ranch) is currently being drilled in this area. Pending the availability of actual well test data, estimated reservoir properties have been employed in numerical simulations to study the effects of variations in reservoir properties on the projected long-term behavior of the Austin Bayou Prospect. The simulations assess the sensitivity of the reservoir behavior to variations in estimated sandstone/ shale distribution, shale compressibility, and vertical shale pemeablity. Further, hypothetical properties for the stress-deformation behavior of the rock formations were employed in a very preliminary study of the potential ground surface displacements that might accompany fluid production.

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