Geopressured Geothermal Land Desk
The land and rights desk for geopressured geothermal
We read the county and agency records for a defined area and depth interval, and we show what they say about the ground and the people the records name as holding rights in it.
Who this is for
Start with your part of the ground
Four kinds of reader, three starting pages. Developers and heat or power buyers share one.
- Landowners and mineral ownersWhat the statute text says, what a project may ask of an owner, and what to keep on hand.
- Operators and well ownersWhat the record holds for the wells and leases you hold, and what a records package would show.
- DevelopersThe land and rights work a project needs, and what to send to start.
- Heat or power buyersTell us the place and the use. We look at the land and rights side.
What the term means
"Geopressured geothermal" describes deep reservoirs in sedimentary basins where the fluid is held at pressures above the normal hydrostatic gradient; sources describe them as holding hot brine with dissolved methane.
The gradient criteria that sources use are set side by side on What geopressured geothermal means.
Sources: EIA Energy Glossary; Geopressured-Geothermal Research Program Overview, U.S. Department of Energy, 1989; Report of Investigations 117, Bureau of Economic Geology, 1982; Circular 790, USGS, 1979; Recoverable Resource Estimate, NREL, 2012. Read October 4, 2026.
The earlier program
What the DOE program found, and what it says about continued production
Dated statements from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) history chapter on its Gulf Coast program, each set out in full on the page linked below.
- The program
The chapter says the DOE Geopressured-Geothermal Energy program ran from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. Appendix A of the chapter prints a budget entry for the program for each fiscal year from 1976 to 1992, and none for 1993 to 2006.
- Findings and the economic limit
Section 3.7 of the chapter, Findings and Conclusions, lists the program's significant accomplishments, with items on flow rates, scaling, injection, subsidence and a hybrid power system. The paragraph just before Section 3.7 follows the chapter's economic study of eight well cases. It says that economically driven well and reservoir selectivity, which favors the more hot, more gaseous reservoirs, would significantly limit the number of economically viable geopressured-geothermal resources.
- Pleasant Bayou plant
The chapter says that from October 1989 to the end of May 1990 the plant ran at or near design output, except for an occasional outage, and that it was shut down a month early because the brine injection well required rework. It says the plant produced about 1 MW of power from 10,000 barrels per day of 143 degrees C (290 degrees F) brine, with the gas engine at 650 kW and the binary-cycle turbine at 541 kW, and that actual parasitic loads were 260 to 306 kW. The unit is MW, with no e or t added.
The chapter also says that successful operation of the hybrid cycle power plant clearly demonstrated that there were no technical obstacles to electricity generation from the Pleasant Bayou geopressured resource. Its next sentence says that, other than surmountable issues associated with scaling due to the high total dissolved solid content of the typical reservoir brines, a power plant could be built and operated with no technical or economic obstacles. The economic limit the chapter states is in the row above.
- Closing paragraph
The closing paragraph of Section 3.7 says that at the time of the research program prevailing economic conditions limited continued production from geopressured-geothermal reservoirs, and that the program laid the foundation for all aspects of future development of this extensive resource. That paragraph names no specific economic condition.
Source: Geothermal History, Reservoir Engineering, Section 3.0, DOE, published September 2010, covering 1976 to 2006: Section 3.0 with its Section 3.7, and Appendix A. Read October 4, 2026.
The core idea
What the oil and gas record says
For the ground where a geopressured project would sit, we start with the oil and gas record. The drawing shows five layers of rights on one made-up piece of ground, and they do not line up. The worksheet lists six items, because it keeps wells and easements apart.
We read each layer from the record that would show it: county deeds and plats for the surface and the minerals, the lease and any release for the lease, the depth words in deeds and leases for a severance, agency well records for wells, and the recorded instrument for an easement.
The work
What we do
We read the records and organize what they say. To discuss any of it, contact us.
- Lease and title research
For a defined area and depth interval.
- Interest holders
Identifying surface, mineral and other interest holders.
- Lease, unit and severance status
Existing oil and gas leases, units and depth severances, as the record shows them.
- Well and records inventory
Wells and records listed from public sources.
- Access and surface use
Easement, access and surface use coordination.
- Project brief and counterparties
A project brief with the gaps visible, and identification of counterparties.
What this site will not tell you. It does not tell you what a reservoir holds, whether a project is feasible, or who owns what on your tract. We are not engineers, and we promise no outcome.
Read and try
Guides and worksheets
Plain-language guides, and worksheets that run in your browser and send nothing.
- 1
The oil and gas record
What it holds about a defined piece of ground, and what it cannot say.
- 2
Surface, minerals and depth severances
Who can hold what in the same ground, how a split by depth reads, and what the Texas and Louisiana texts say.
- 3
Project brief
List what you know about an area, and see what is still missing.
- 4
Rights stack worksheet
Mark what you know about each of six items. The drawing shows five layers; the worksheet keeps wells and easements apart.
- 5
Units and energy basics
Pressure gradient, the heat relation and unit conversions, with the arithmetic shown.
Start with the place
Tell us which kind of reader you are and the county or parish. Where the short form in this section shows, its button carries both to the request form, where you can add the rest. Nothing is sent until you press Send there.
You can also go straight to the request form and type the same two things.