Well Design Spring 2013

Well Design - PE 413

Chapter 1: Formation Pressure

Prepared by: Tan Nguyen

Well Design Spring 2013

Required Materials
1.

Applied Drilling Engineering Adam T. Bourgoyne SPE

Textbook

2.

Fundamental of Drilling Engineering Miska and Mitchell SPE

Textbook Volume 12

3.

Drilling Engineering Handbook Volume II Robert Mitchell

4.

Class notes

5.

PowerPoint slides

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Well Design Spring 2013

Formation Pressure
Definition Normal Pressure
During a period of erosion and sedimentation, grains of sediment are continuously
building up on top of each other, generally in a water filled environment. As the
thickness of the layer of sediment increases, the grains of the sediment are packed
closer together, and some of the water is expelled from the pore spaces. However, if
the pore throats through the sediment are interconnecting all the way to surface the
pressure of the fluid at any depth in the sediment will be same as that which would
be found in a simple colom of fluid. This pressure is called NORMAL PRESSURE
and only dependents on the density of the fluid in the pore space and the depth of
the pressure measurement (equal to the height of the colom of liquid). it will be
independent of the pore size or pore throat geometry.

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Well Design Spring 2013

Overburden Pressure
The vertical pressure at any point in the earth is known as the overburden
pressure or geostatic pressure. The overburden pressure at any point is a
function of the mass of rock and fluid above the point of interest. In order to
calculate the overburden pressure at any point, the average density of the material
(rock and fluids) above the point of interest must be determined. The average
density of the rock and fluid in the pore space is known as the bulk density of the
rock

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Well Design Spring 2013

Overburden Pressure

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Well Design Spring 2013

Formation Pressure
Definition Normal Pressure

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Well Design Spring 2013

Formation Pressure
Definition Normal Pressure
The datum which is generally used during drilling operations is the drillfloor
elevation but a more general datum level, used almost universally, is Mean Sea
Level, MSL. When the pore throats through the sediment are interconnecting, the
pressure of the fluid at any depth in the sediment will be same as that which would
be found in a simple column of fluid and therefore the pore pressure gradient is a
straight line. The gradient of the line is a representation of the density of the fluid.
Hence the density of the fluid in the pore space is often expressed in units of psi/ft.

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Well Design Spring 2013

Formation Pressure
Definition Abnormal Pressure
Pore pressures which are found to lie above or below the normal pore pressure
gradient line are called abnormal pore pressures. These formation pressures may
be either Subnormal (i.e. less than 0.465 psi/ft) or Overpressured (i.e. greater than
0.465 psi/ft). The mechanisms which generate these abnormal pore pressures can
be quite complex and vary from region to region. However, the most common
mechanism for generating overpressures is called Undercompaction and can be
best described by the undercompaction model.

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Well Design Spring 2013

Formation Pressure
Definition Abnormal Pressure

Underpressured
formation

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Well Design Spring 2013

Abnormal Formation Pressure

Compact Effect

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Well Design Spring 2013

Abnormal Formation Pressure

Compact Effect

ob z Pf

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Well Design Spring 2013

Detection of Formation Pressure

Based on Drilled Cuttings

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