Abnormal Formatio Pressures

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Developments in Petroleum Science, 2 ABNORMAL FORMATION PRESSURES Implications to Exploration, Drilling, and Production of Oil and Gas Resources

FURTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES 1. A.GENE COLLINS GEOCHEMISTRY OF OILFIELD WATERS
3 A.P. SZILAS PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORT OF OIL AND GAS

4 C.E.B. CONYBEARE GEOMORPHOLOGYOF OIL AND GAS FIELDS IN SANDSTONE BODIES

5. T.F. YEN AND G.V. CHILINGARIAN (Editors) OIL SHALE

Developments in Petroleum Science, 2

ABNORMAL FORMATION PRESSURES
Implications to Exploration, Drilling, and Production of Oil and Gas Resources
WALTER H. FERTL
Director o f Interpretation and Field Development, Dresser Atlas Division, Dresser Industries, Inc., Houston, Texas, U.S.A.with a contribution by GEORGE V. CHILINGARIAN Professor Petroleum Engineering, University o f Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S. A . and HERMAN H. RIEKE, I11 fiofessor, School of Mines, West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va., U.S.A.

ELSEVIER SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING COMPANY Amsterdam - Oxford -New York 1976

AMERICAN ELSEVIER PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue NewYork, New York 10017

ISBN 0-444-41328-6 With 233 illustrations and 36 tables Copyright 0 1976 by Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher,Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Jan van Galenstraat 335, Amsterdam Printed in The Netherlands

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PREFACE

The present book by Dr. Walter Fertl represents the first modern collection and comprehensive review of laboratory studies, combined with extensive field observations, dealing with the vast sv.bject area related to the origin, detection, andquantitative evaluation of abnormal formation pressures and their profound technical and managerial decision-making impact on exploration, drilling, production, and reservoir engineering concepts. Location, detection, and magnitude of abnormal formation pressures is critical to the oil industry’s quest to probe new and remote areas and to test the potential of ever-deeper targets in today’s enhancedsearch for oil and gas resources. The author, who ranks among the world’s leading experts in this subject field, has synthesized both published and unpublished data, and at the same time has incorporated a wealth of his own personal experiences, which are based on both worldwide field observations and laboratory data. The manuscript is well organized and documented and provides an excellent, in-depthtreatment of obvious value t o both the newcomer and the expert. As such, the volume should serve as a valuable text and source book for both industrial and academic circles, including geologists, engineers, teachers, and students alike. It also provides a basis for stimulation of thought and it points out numerous opportunities for future research in a variety of fields. The informationpresented in this splendid text gives an excellent, clear, and up-to-date discussion of this rapidly developing subject matter, which has been previously unorganized and scattered throughout the literature in earth sciences and/or petroleum engineering journals. The initial chapter presents a well-organized introduction to the large variety of possible modes and causes of abnormal formation pressureenvironments in the subsurface, and simultaneously establishes the basic parameters of these in-situ pressure conditions with precise and intelligent descriptions and definitions. At the same time Chapter 1also provides a brief but rather comprehensive historical review of the subject. This is followed in Chapter 2 by a condensed look at the compaction of argillaceous sediments. Pertinent information...