Richard Denne 

December 13, 2025

RICHARD DENNE
Director of the Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis program, University of Texas Institute for Geophysics

This spring, Richard Denne became the director of the Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Program (GBDS), a long-running research partnership with the energy industry. 

Prior to his role at GBDS, Denne was an industry geologist for over 25 years before joining Texas Christian University in 2016 as the Hunter Enis Chair in Petroleum Geology. He was also director of the TCU Energy Institute. As an energy geologist, Denne held senior positions at major oil and gas companies, including Exxon and Marathon Oil, where he worked on exploration and production of wells in deep water basins — including the Gulf of Mexico — and unconventional shale plays in Texas. 

Denne has published extensively, including research on sedimentary deposits left behind by the Chicxulub impact. His current research focuses on organic-rich sediments from the Cretaceous and applying biostratigraphy to investigate Cenozoic and Mesozoic marine systems.

For 30 years, GBDS has been the go-to regional resource for oil and gas exploration in the Gulf. Denne takes the helm as the program expands its research offerings to include carbon storage, geothermal, critical minerals, and hydrogen storage. Denne also plans to expand the participation of undergraduate and graduate researchers in the program.