The principal research effort for Year 2 of Phase 2 (Concept Demonstration) of the project is Mesozoic (Bossier) petroleum system characterization and modeling and refined resource assessment. The necessary software applications have been acquired to accomplish this work. No major problems have been encountered to date, and the project is on schedule.iv

The principal research effort for Year 1 of the project is data compilation and petroleum system identification. The research focus for the first nine (9) months of Year 1 is on data compilation and for the remainder of the year the emphasis is on petroleum system identification.iv

The principal research effort for Year 1 of Phase 2 (Concept Demonstration) of the project is Smackover petroleum system characterization and modeling. The necessary software applications have been acquired to accomplish this work. No major problems have been encountered to date, and the project is on schedule.iv

The principal research effort for Year 2 of the project has been petroleum system characterization and modeling. Understanding the burial, thermal maturation, and hydrocarbon expulsion histories of the strata in the onshore interior salt basins of the North Central and Northeastern Gulf of Mexico areas is important in hydrocarbon resource assessment. The underburden and overburden rocks in these basins and subbasins are a product of their rift-related geohistory. Petroleum source rock analysis and initial thermal maturation and hydrocarbon expulsion modeling indicated that an effective regional petroleum source rock in the onshore interior salt basins and subbasins, the North Louisiana

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