Table Of ContentDEVELOPMENTS IN PETROLEUM SCIENCE
Advisory Editor: G.V. Chilingarian
Volumes 1, 3,4,7 and 13 are out of print
2. W.H. FERTL - Abnormal Formation Pressures
5. T.F. YEN and G.V. CHILINGARIAN (Editors) -Oil Shale
6. D.W. PEACEMAN - Fundamentals of Numerical Reservoir Simulation
X. L.P. Dake - Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering
9. K. MAGARA - Compaction and Fluid Migration
10. M.T. SILVIA and E.A. ROBINSON - Deconvolution of Geophysical Time Series in the
Exploration for Oil and Natural Gas
I I. G.V. CHILINGARIAN and P. VORABUTR - Drilling and Drilling Fluids
12. T.D. VAN GOLF-RACHT - Fundamentals of Fractured Reservoir Engeneering
14. G. MOZES (Editor) - Paraffin Products
I SA. 0. SERRA - Fundamentals of Well-log Interpretation, 1. The acquisition of logging data
I SB. 0. SERRA - Fundamentals of Well-log Interpretation, I. The interpretation of logging data
16. R.E. CHAPMAN - Petroleum Geology
17A. E.C. DONALDSON, G.V. CHILINGARIAN and T.F. Yen (Editors) -Enhanced Oil
Recovery, I. Fundamentals and analyses
I7B. E.C. DONALDSON. G.V. CHILINGARIAN and T.F. Yen (Editors) - Enhanced Oil
Recovery, 11. Processes and operations
I XA. A.P. SZILAS - Production and Transport of Oil and Gas, A. Flow mechanics and production
(wcond completely revised edition)
I XB. A.P. SZILAS Production and Transport of Oil and Gas, B. Gathering and Transport
~
(\ccond completely re\iwd edition)
19A. G.V. CHILINGARIAN, J.O. ROBERTSON Jr. and S. KUMAR - Surface Operations in
Petroleum Production, I
19B. G.V. CHILINGARIAN, J.O. ROBERTSON Jr. and S. KUMAR - Surface Operations in
Petroleum Production, I1
30. A.J. DIKKERS - Geology in Petroleum Production
21. F. RAMIREZ - Application of Optimal Control Theory to Enhanced Oil Recovery
22. E.C. DONALDSON. G.V. CHILINGARIAN and T.F. Yen - Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery
23. J. HAGOORT - Fundamentals of Gas Reservoir Engineering
24. W. LITTMANN -Polymer Flooding
25. N.K. BAIBAKOV and A.R. GARUSHEV - Thermal Methods of Petroleum Production
26. D. MADER - Hydraulic Proppant Farcturing and Gravel Packing
27. G. DA PRAT Well Test Analysis for Naturally Fractured Reservoirs
~
2x. E.B. NELSON (Editor) - Well Cementing
29. R.W. ZIMMERMAN - Compressibility of Sandstones
30. G.V. CHILINGARIAN, S.J. MAZZULLO and H.H. RIEKE - Carbonate Reservoir
Characterization: A Geologic-Engineering Analysis, Part I
31. E.C. DONALDSON (Editor) Microbial Enhancement of Oil Recovery - Recent Advances
~
32. E. BOBOK Fluid Mechanics for Petroleum Engineers
~
33. E. FJER, R.M. HOLT, P. HORSRUD, A.M. RAAEN and R. RISNES petroleum Related
Rock Mechanics
34. M.J. ECONOMIDES - A Practical Companion to Reservoir Stimulation
35. J.M. VERWEIJ - Hydrocarbon Migration Systems Analysis
36. la. DAKE - The Practice of Reservoir Engineering
37. W.H. SOMERTON - Thermal Properties and Temperature related Behavior of Rocklfluid
Systems
38. W.H. FERTL, R.E. CHAPMAN and R.F. HOTZ (Editors) - Studies in Abnormal Pressures
39. E. PREMUZIC and A. WOODHEAD (Editors) - Microbial Enhancement of Oil Recovery -
Recent Advances - Proceedings of the 1992 International Conference on Microbial Enhanced
Oil Recovery
Developments in Petroleum Science, 38
studies in abnormal
pressures
Edited by
WALTER H. FERTL~
Late President, Atlas Wire Services, Houston, Texas, USA
RICHARD E. CHAPMAN
The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
and
ROD F. HOTZ
Western Atlas International, Houston, Texas, USA
ELSEVIER, Amsterdam - London -N ew York -T okyo 1994
ELSEVIER SCIENCE B.V.
Sara Burgerhartstraat 2.5
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ISBN: 0-444-X9999-5
0 I994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
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Printed in The Netherlands
V
PREFACE
This should have been Walter’s book. It was his idea, and it grew from his very
successful first book, Abnormal Formation Pressures, published by Elsevier Science
Publishers in 1976. Unfortunately he did not live to see his idea take more than
general form. He died on November loth, 1990.
I say it should have been Walter’s book because the double tragedy was that
his own contributions to it were either not written or were lost. So what was left
was the work of those whom he had invited to contribute to the book. I became
involved in 1987 as a contributor. In 1988 he invited me to join him as co-editor. We
had known each other since the middle 1970s, and my r81e was to have been more
as an editorial adviser to him. Rod Hotz worked with and eventually for Walter
during the many years of their employment with Dresser Atlas, which eventually
became Western Atlas International in 1987. He edited most of Walter’s work
and co-authored a number of papers with him. He had begun to assist Walter in
preparing both text and figures for the second book prior to November loth, 1990.
After Waiter’s death there were many difficulties in restoring the project. Rod
Hotz was able to locate most of the files Walter had accumulated for this book and
I am very grateful to him for all the help he has given me. With the contributors
coming from North America, it would have been virtually impossible for an editor
across the Pacific to have done it unaided. I am also very grateful to Ed Bigelow for
accepting Rod’s invitation to fill the gaps left by Walter - the chapters on world-
wide occurrences of abnormal pressures and on their detection and evaluation with
well logs. Last, but certainly not least, I am very grateful to the contributors for their
patience with me and for updating their chapters so long after they had first written
them.
This then is not the book Walter Fertl would have produced. It is the best we
could do without him. We dedicate it to his memory.
RICHARD E. CHAPMAN
vii
WALTER H. FERTL
Dr. Walter Hans Fertl was a relatively young man when he died in 1990, but
he had achieved much. Somehow he had managed to combine a prolific writing
and lecturing career with a professional career of steadily increasing executive
responsibility. Walter was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1940. He studied at the
University of Mining and Metallurgy at Leoben and then emigrated to the United
States in the mid-1960s. At the University of Texas at Austin he received his MS and
PhD degrees in petroleum engineering before launching off into his professional
career. That in itself was no small achievement for one whose childhood and early
education had been in the German language.
Walter Hans Fertl,
1940-1990.
...
Vlll WALTER H. FERTL
After eight years with Conoco’s Production Research Department he moved
to Dresser Atlas in 1976 (the year his book Abnormal Formation Pressures was
published) as Director of Interpretation and Field Development. In 1981, largely
through his initiative, Dresser Petroleum Engineering Services was formed; and
he was its Vice President and General Manager until 1983 when he became
Vice President of Marketing for Dresser Atlas. Four years later he was promoted
to Executive Vice President - but the following year, 1988, he was appointed
President of Atlas Wireline Services. It was to be his last appointment but one. His
last appointment, the one we all have to keep sooner or later, was on November
loth, 1990.
The career here sketched would be regarded as highly satisfactory by anyone,
but that was not all. While doing all these things he found time to publish over
300 technical papers and articles, write or contribute to ten books, acquire 27 U.S.
patents, and lecture around the world. He was honoured by Iran and Thailand,
by the Society of Professional Well Log Analysts with their Gold Medal and their
Presidency, by Dresser Industries with their Silver Medal Award for Technical
Creativity, by the Society of Petroleum Engineers as a Distinguished Lecturer, and
by four U.S. Universities with the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa.
In brief, Walter’s professional life had that rare mix of quality and quantity. No
one is indispensable, but some are more so than others. Walter’s influence on all
those around him was great, as was his influence on petroleum engineering.
FOREWORD
Abnormal formation pressures are no less important today than they were in
1976 when Fertl’s first book on the subject was published. What has changed is that
the topic is now beyond the scope of a single mind, and for this reason, the book
consists of chapters contributed by specialists in their field.
Bigelow begins with a summary of the occurrence of abnormal pressures around
the world. They are known to occur in all the continents except Antarctica.
Chapman discusses the geology of abnormal pressures and reminds us that they
occur in two distinct geological contexts, regressive sequences as in the U.S. Gulf
Coast and the Niger delta, and in rift basins as in the North Sea and the Atlantic
seaboard of the Americas. He follows this with a survey of causes and essential
theory.
The ever-increasing number of abnormally pressured producing reservoirs has
demanded understanding of the reservoir engineering concepts involved. These are
discussed by Bernard. And because water is always involved, Chilingarian, Rieke
and Kazi describe the essential pore-water chemistry.
Many of the problems of fifteen years ago are still problems today, but modern
technology has reduced them. For example, the need to know the depth to abnormal
pressures, and their magnitude, before drilling has been felt for at least 50 years
- it is not sufficient simply to rely on local experience. In new areas it is essential
for proper planning to have some idea of the risks involved. Once drilling starts,
the risks must be updated; and once drilling has been completed, the pattern of
pore pressures must be evaluated. These topics are treated here by their experts.
Kan and Sicking describe the geophysical methods of detection and evaluation of
abnormal pressures using geophysical methods before drilling. Bigelow describes
their evaluation using well logs. Hardage tackles the problem of looking ahead of
the bit using seismic methods in real time. Desbrandes and Clayton discuss the
acquisition of parameters while drilling - the measurement-while-drilling (MWD)
technology.
Shallow abnormal pressures occur in many parts of the world and Bourgoyne
assesses these hazards. Some hazards remain, and if the worst happens and a well
blows out, it is essential to reduce the damage to the environment and to humans
to a minimum. Offshore this usually involves drilling a relief well. Desbrandes treats
this topic.
An important development in the theory of abnormal pressures is that they can
be caused by petroleum generation. Although V.C. Illing in 1938 wrote that there
must be a volume increase during petroleum generation, it is only comparatively
recently that abnormal pressures from this cause have been documented. Spencer
looks at this aspect, taking examples from the Rocky Mountain region.
X FOREWORD
Woods discusses the resource potential of natural gas in the context of abnormal
pressures; and finally, Leach uses a massive database from the U.S. Gulf Coast
region to examine the distribution of petroleum with respect to abnormal pressures
in regressive sequences.
It is sometimes thought that abnormal pressures are important only to the
petroleum industry. This is not true, although this book does concern itself mainly
with the technical and industrial aspects. It seems absolutely certain that abnormal
pressures have been generated during the development of past sedimentary basins,
just as they are developed in present basins such as the U.S. Gulf Coast, the
Niger delta and the North Sea. And it seems absolutely certain that the geological
consequences of abnormal pressures were the same then as they are now, leading
to deformation that is largely controlled by stratigraphy in regressive sequences,
and to the prolonged development of rift basins. While this book has been written
primarily for the practising petroleum engineer (in the broadest sense) it will not
be without interest to geologists interested in abnormal pressures as a geological
phenomenon.
RICHARD E. CHAPMAN
xi
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
W.J. BERNARD Louisiana State University, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Baton Rouge,
LA 70803-6417 , USA
E.L. BIGELOW Atlas Wireline Services, PO. Box 1407, Houston, TX 77251-1407, USA
A.T BOURGOYNE, Jr. Louisiana State University, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Baton Rouge,
LA 70803-641 7, USA
R.E. CHAPMAN Glaston Hill, Upper Camp Mountain Road, Camp Mountain, Qeensland 4520,
Australia (formerly of The University of Queenrland)
G.V. CHILINGARIAN School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
90089-1211, USA
R. CLAYTON ENSCO Technology Co., 1776 Yorktown, Suite 750, Houston, TX 77056-4114,
USA
R. DESBRANDES Department of Petroleum Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge,
LA 70803-6417, USA
B.A. HARDAGE Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
78713, USA
TK. KAN ARCO Exploration Research and Production Technology, 2300 West Plano
Parkway, Plano, TX 75075-8499, USA
A. KAZI Directorate General of Mineral Resources, PO. Box 345, Jeddah 21191, Saudi
Arabia
W.G. LEACH 46 Yosemite Drive, New Orleans, LA 70131, USA (formerly of Texaco USA)
H.H. RIEKE Directorate General of Mineral Resources, PO. Box 345, Jeddah 21191, Saudi
Arabia
C.J. SICKING ARCO Exploration Research and Production Technology, 2300 West Plano
Parkway, Plano, TX 75075-8499, USA
C.W . SPENCER US Department of the Interior; US Geological Survey, Box 25546, MS 940,
Denver Federal Center;D enver; CO 80225-0046, USA
TJ. WOODS Gas Research Institute, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W, Suite 730 North,
Washington, DC 20004-17 03, USA
Studies in Abnormal Pressures. Developmenu in Petroleum Science, 38
edited by W.H. Fertl, R.E. Chapman and R.E Hotz
1
0 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Chapter 1
GLOBAL OCCURRENCES OF ABNORMAL PRESSURES
E.L. BIGELOW
1.1. INTRODUCTION
In the petroleum industry, abnormal formation pressures have been found
throughout the world (Fig. 1-1).A bnormal pressures are encountered both offshore
and onshore, at deep and shallow depths, and in rocks from the beginning of the
Paleozoic (Cambrian) to the Cenozoic era (Pleistocene). Abnormal pressures have
occurred in all types of rocks - shales, shaly sands, evaporites, carbonates, etc.
Abnormal formation pressures are defined as any departure from normal hydrostatic
pressure at any given depth.
The petroleum industry is profoundly affected by both the magnitude and
occurrence of abnormally high-pressure environments. Overpressured regimes play
an important role in the decision-making processes of corporate managers. Greatly
affected are activities such as exploration and development decisions, drilling and
well completion efforts, production operations, and associated reservoir engineering
functions that are so vital to effective and efficient reservoir management.
Fig. 1-1. Global occurrences of abnormal formation pressure.
