Letter from Thomas Gold to Mr Robert A Hefner III, GHK Company, 2601 Northwest Expressway, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Gold has read with great interest Hefner's Aspen Institute papers. He is sure Hefner is correct in raising estimates of gas reserves by a large factor. Gold believes it will be a larger factor still. He is enclosing his paper on the deep primeval methane. There is clearly a regional association between deep gas and less deep deposits of oil and bitumenous coal. Gold believes that this has to be understood in the following way; oil is the best substance to block the escape of methane; in sutable circumstances the gas will add to the oil thus making more oil, and in turn, acting as a better catcher for more gas, and a runnaway process. On this basis he sees quite different possibilities for search. Mr O'Leary's statement about gas is absurd and, as Hefner indicates, quite irresponsible. 12 February 1979