This report summarizes the research and accomplishments of the LLL Gas Stimulation Program during the third quarter of FY 1977. Work has continued on the two theoretical models that simulate, respectively, the local and distance effects of .the hydraulic fracturing process. Application and analysis have indicated that for a penetrating fluid and stress intensity factor tends to decrease as the pore pressure increases. Laboratory fracturing experiments indicate that for no precracking the borehole, the hydraulic fluid pressure necessary to initiate a crack is relatively insensitive to the applied load on the block. Other laboratory experiments have been performed to test the sensitivity of the principal stress magnitudes on the fracture orientation. We have also completed a rock geometry and mechanics study of the Western tight gas sands. A summary of this study is included here and is being published under separate cover.