Lecture# 11

Pore Pressure
Estimation
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Methods to
Estimate Pore Pressure

o Mud logging
o Measurement while Drilling (MWD)
o Logging while Drilling (LWD)
o Direct methods:
❖ DST
❖ Production tests
❖ RFT
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Mud Logging
Methods

I. Rate of penetration (ROP)

II. Corrected D exponent

III. Drag, torque and fill

IV. Gas levels

V. Temperature data

VI. Drill cutting parameters

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Mud Logging
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Mud Logging

o Measure Drilling parameters (ROP,WOB, RPM,…)

o Measure properties of drill cuttings from samples

collected at shale shaker

o Measure gas levels from well

o Produce a lithological column as well is drilled

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Mud Logging

o Determine where to drill to and when to stop

o Give warnings of increasing pressures

o Help determine accurately the depth of casing seats

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I. Rate of Penetration
(ROP)

Drill bits break rock by a combination of several

processes include:

o Compression(weight-on-bit)

o Shearing (rpm)

o Jetting action of drilling fluid

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Rate of Penetration
Affected by :
(ROP)
o WOB
o RPM
o Bit type
o Bit wear
o Hydraulic
o Overbalance (Chip Hold on Pressure)
o Drilling fluid properties
o Hole size
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ROP
Indicator of Abnormal Pressure
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Attention:

o A sudden increase in ROP may not be due to

penetrating an abnormal pressure zone

o May be caused by changes in drilling parameters

such as WOB, rpm and hydraulics
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II. D-exponent

o A method of normalizing ROP for changes in drilling

parameters

o Make interpretation of drilling rate easier

o Improve its effectiveness as an indicator of pore

pressure
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D-exponent
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Corrected
D-exponent
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Corrected
D-exponent
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EX# 02:
D-exponent

Calculate D-exponent:

o Bit Diameter: 12.25 in

o WOB: 50,000 lb

o Drillstring Rotation: 80 rpm

o ROP: 30 ft/hr
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Solution:
D-exponent
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Pore Pressure Calculation Using

dc

o Eaton Method

o Ratio Method
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Eaton Method
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Ratio Method
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EX# 03:
Pore Pressure

Calculate Pore Pressure At 12,000 ft

o Use Eaton and Ratio Methods

o dcn (from normal trend): 1.5 d-unit

o dco (from new trend): 1.1 d-unit

o Overburden gradient: 19 ppg

o Normal pore pressure in area: 9 ppg

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Solution:

1.5

12,000 ft
1.1
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Eaton Method
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Ratio Method
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dc Exponent

Affected by:
o lithology
o poor hydraulics
o type of bit
o bit wear
o motor or turbine runs
o unconformities in formation
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III. Drag, Torque & Fill

o Drag: Excess force which is necessary to pull

drillstring up

o Torque: Rotational friction acting against pipe

movement

o Fill: Settling of cuttings and/or cavings at bottom

of hole
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Drag, Torque and Fill

o Torque and Drag: Increase due to physical

encroachment of formation (mostly shale) into
borehole

o Fill: When an over pressured shale is drilled , shale tends

to cave into wellbore due to inability of mud density to
hold back wellbore
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IV. Gas Level

o Gas enter mud system during drilling operations

o Gas Levels:

❖Background Gas

❖Connection Gas

❖Trip Gas
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Background Gas

o Originate from rock being drill by bit

o Level is a function of:
❖ Porosity
❖ Hole size
❖ ROP
❖ Mud circulation rate
❖ Degree of over balance
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Connection Gas

o Effective MW is reduced from ECD to static mud

weight

o Also Induces a further reduction of MW due to

swabbing effect

o Allows a small amount of gas to flow into wellbore

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Trip Gas

o Produced by same mechanism as connection gas

o But effect of swabbing is increased due to higher

pulling speeds when tripping
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V. Temperature
Data

o Radial flow of heat from Earth‘s Core causes increase

in subsurface temperature with depth

o Geothermal Gradient: Rate of change in temperature

per unit depth

o Assume constant for any given area

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Temperature
Data

o Pore water has 1/6th of thermal conductivity of

formation matrix

o Zone containing more water than normal retard heat

flow through rock

o High pressured zone contain more heat than a

comparable normal zone due to high water content
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Temperature
Data

o Flow line

o Bottom hole formation

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Depth vs.
Flow Line Temperature
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Flow Line
Temperature

Influenced by several factors including:

o Circulation rate
o ROP
o Length of static time in well
o Mud conditions
o Additions of new mud
o Cooling effect of sea
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Bottom Hole Temperature

(BHT)

o MWD technology allow accurate monitoring of BHT

o Mean consequently accurate evaluation of

geothermal gradient

o Temperature not be used alone but in conjunction

with other parameters
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VI. Drill Cutting Parameters

a. Shale bulk density

b. Shale factor

c. Cutting size and shape

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a. Shale
Bulk Density

o Shale density increase with depth in a normally

compacted

o Abnormally pressured shales often display a degree

of under compaction

o Result in higher porosity and lower density

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Shale
Bulk Density
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Shale
Bulk Density

Considerations:

o Inaccuracy of shale density measurements

o Effects of drilling mud on cuttings

o Consistency of mud logging personnel in measuring

density
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b. Shale Factor

o Measure of Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of

shale

o CEC of a shale sample increases with montmorillonite

content

o Highly reactive clay mineral

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Shale Factor

o In normal compaction trend line, montmorrillonite

content should decrease with depth

o Abnormally pressured zones often have a higher

montmorrillonite content than normally pressured-
shales
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c. Cutting
Size and Shape

o Give qualitative evidence of onset of abnormal pore

pressure

o Cavings are much larger than normal drilled cuttings

o Produce due to hole instability problems related to

insufficient mud weight
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Methods to
Estimate Pore Pressure

o Mud logging
o Measurement while Drilling (MWD)
o Logging while Drilling (LWD)
o Direct methods:
❖ DST
❖ Production tests
❖ RFT
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MWD and LWD

1. Downhole weight on the bit (DWOB)

2. Downhole torque

3. Downhole temperature

4. Gamma Ray

5. Sonic Logs

6. Resistivity log
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1. Downhole WOB

o Downhole WOB usually less than surface WOB values

due to drag of drillsting on borehole wall

o Use for calculation of dc-exponents

o Increase accuracy and reduce scatter of dc values

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Downhole WOB vs.

Surface WOB
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Downhole WOB vs.

Surface WOB
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2. Downhole Torque

o Use to indicate bit wear or as an overpressured

indicator

o On deviated wells, surface torque readings are

usually useless due to drillstring contact with well

o Measurement of downhole torque eradicate

drillstring effect
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3. Downhole Temperature

o Difference between downhole annulus temperature

and temperature of fluid entering well

o Give an indication of amount of heat imparted to

fluid

o Use of downhole temperature for overpressure

detection is same as flow line temperature
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4. Gamma Ray

o Used to identify lithology

o Shale show a higher level of radioactivity than sands,

evaporates and limestones

o Use to detect clean shales for evaluation by dc

exponent method whilst drilling
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5. Sonic Log

o Acoustic logs are considered to provide most reliable

quantitative estimations of pore pressure

o They are relatively unaffected by:

❖ borehole size,

❖ formation temperature

❖ pore water salinity

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Sonic Log

Parameters affect:

o Formation type

o Compaction related effects such as porosity/density

which used for pore pressure evaluation
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Theory of
Sonic Logging

o Measure transit time (t) for a compressional sonic

wave to travel through formation from transmitter to
receiver

o Time to travel through ONE ft (or ONE m) is termed

Interval Transit Time (ITT)
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Theory of
Sonic Logging

o In a shale sequence showing a normal compaction

profile (normal pressure)

o Transit time should decrease with depth due to

decreased porosity and increasing density
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Theory of
Sonic Logging

o Abnormally pressured shales tend to have higher

porosity and lower density than normally pressured
shales at same depth

o ITT values will be higher

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Eaton Method
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Eaton Method
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EX# 04:
Pore Pressure from Sonic Log

o A sonic log was run in a well at 8,000 ft

o Normal transit time (Δtn) at 8, 000 ft is 110 ms

o From logs (Δto) is 130 ms

o if overburden pressure is 7,500 psi @ 8,000 ft

o Normal pore pressure gradient is 0.465 psi/ft

Calculate Pore Pressure @ 8,000 ft ?

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Solution:

8,000 (ft) x 0.465 (psi/ft) = 3,720 psi

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6. Resistivity Log

o Shale resistivity increase with depth

o Resistivity of shale depends on:

❖ Porosity

❖ Salinity of pore water

❖ Temperature
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Theory of
Resistivity Logging

o Shale resistivity increasing with depth in normally

pressured shale as porosity decrease

o An increasing porosity (higher pore water content) is

indicative of abnormally pressured shales

o Result in lower resistivity

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Theory of
Resistivity Logging
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7. Formation
Density Logs

o A radioactive source which bombards formation with

medium energy gamma rays

o Gamma rays collide with electrons in formation

resulting in scattering of gamma rays

o Degree of scattering is directly related to electron

density and therefore bulk density of formation
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Formation
Density Logs

o Shale bulk density will increase with depth due to

increased compaction

o Result in reduced porosity and pore water expulsion

o In an abnormally pressured shale, compaction is

often retarded

o Result in increased porosity and lower density

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Shale Density
Trend
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Formation
Pore Pressure

o Definitions
o Pore Pressure
o Causes of abnormal pore pressure
o Abnormal pore pressure evaluation
o Mud logging
o MWD and LWD
o Direct measurements of pore pressure
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Direct
Measurements of Pore Pressure

1. Repeat Formation Tester (RFT)

2. Drill Stem Test (DST)

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1. Repeat Formation Tester (RFT)

o A wireline run tool

o Design to measure formation pressures and to obtain

fluid samples

o Re-set any number of times

o Enable a series of pressure readings to be taken

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Repeat Formation Tester

(RFT)

Provides THREE distinct pieces of pressure data:

o Drilling fluid hydrostatic pressure (TWO readings)

o Formation pore pressure

o Pressure transient induced by withdrawal of TWO small

samples
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RFT
Example
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RFT
Example
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RFT
Example
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Repeat Formation Tester

(RFT)

o Use two mud hydrostatic readings for data quality

control

o Two values are compared to verify stability of tool

o Should be within a few psi’s of each other

o Only useful after the hole section is drilled

o Only work across porous and permeable zones

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Repeat Formation Tester

(RFT)

o Pore pressure measured by RFT is used to construct a

reservoir pressure profile

o Pressure, flow rate and time data used for reservoir

characteristics, such as permeability
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Direct
Measurements of Pore Pressure

1. Repeat Formation Tester (RFT)

2. Drill Stem Test (DST)

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2. Drill Stem Test

(DST)

o A method of testing formations for pressure and fluid

o DST with a packer is run

o Set just above zone to be tested

o DST valve is opened to allow reservoir to communicate

with inside of drillstem
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Drill Stem Test

(DST)

o DST is run with several pressure gauges

o Record downhole pressure during sequence of flow
and shut in periods
o Recorded Pressure used to calculate:
❖ Formation pressure
❖ Permeability
❖ Skin damage
❖ Productivity index
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Drill Stem Test

(DST)
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Drill Stem Test

(DST)
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DST
Chart
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Major
Limitation of RFT and DST

Pressure Data Can only be Obtained from Permeable

and Porous Formations
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Summary of
Pore Pressure Determination

o Data may come from mud logging, LWD or RFT and

DST sources

o RFT/DST pressure data are most definitive and have

least uncertainty

o RFT/DST are possible in permeable formations and

obtained after drilling
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Summary of
Pore Pressure Determination

o RFT/DST not applicable to impermeable zone like

shale sections where majority of overpressure is there
o Establishing a normal compaction trend line is of
great importance
o Sonic log is most accurate as largely unaffected by:
❖ borehole size
❖ formation temperature
❖ pore water salinity
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Summary of
Pore Pressure Determination
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Thank You
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