“SOCIHY OF PZTS.OLZUi.

l EliGINZERS OF A131E
62C0 North Central Expressway L&%m!&SPE3843
?)allas, Texas 75206

THIS IS A PREPRINT --- SUBJECT TO CORRECTION

Origin and Maintenance of Abnormal Pressures

By

Lester R. Louden, Member AIME, Oilfield Products Div., Dresser Industries, Inc.
@ Copyright 1972
American Institute of Minbg, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for the Abnormal Subsurface Pressure Symposium of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Baton Rouge, La., May u-16, 1972. Permission to COPY
is restricted to an abstract of not ❑ ore than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The
abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented.
Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGYor the SOCIETY OF
PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate
journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of’ this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the
Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting,
and with the uaner. mm be considered for Duplication in one of the two SPE maRazines.
.X.” .

ABST”RACT the chosen normal will be characteristic.

We will define abnormal pressure then as a
A review of the origins of pressures pressure greater or less than the normal
and a restatement of the definition of ab- lithoiogy gradient fei m area Q.&65 Psi!ft
normal pressures is presented. Geologic of depth in the lithology.
interactions are presented as supporting
evidence for the basic origins. A discussion There are only two ways abnormal pressure
of the various geoiogic maintenance th.eDries cap,~~.e i?.tgexistence.
are presented with supporting evidence.
I. Tectonic - Orogenetic activity
TEXT 11. Formation of a Seal. A pressure
seal is any area or layer that has
The term “abnormal pressure” through restricted permeability compared to
general usage has come to mean higher-than- normal permeability for the degree
. ---
normal pressure encumbered i~.tk earth.’s of Lithification and geologic
crust while drilling. Some have defined setting.
these pressures as geopressures.20
~.
T TUP’IVINTf!
&“w.”A---
@.~~~N

Normal is defined as the lithology gradi-

ent for a salt water basin. If so, we must I A. Sub-Normal Pressure - less than 0.465
accept any deviation from 0.465 psilft of psi/ft depth - may come into 2xistence
depth as abnormal. Therefore, any fresh in two ways.
water or brackish water deposition must be
called abnormal. There exists a normal for 1. An area of massive sediments may be
every geological setting, but since we drtll uplifted and eroded, thereby moving
far more wells in sediments associated with sediments from a deeper to a shallow-
sea water deposition, 0.465 psi/ft of dept; er position relative to the surface.
will be used as normal in this discussion. Through release of the compressive
overburden forces, the crystal
Pressure Gradients for Various structure will expand, increasing
Geologic Basins the pore room and lowering the rock
density. This expansion and partial
Fresh Water basins 0.430 psilft of depth void will cause the portion of the
Brackish water basins 0.433 psilft of depth column affected to be less than
Salt water basins 0.465 psi/ft of depth 0.465 psi/ft of depth. Portions of
North America’s mid-continent region
Bearing in mind that normal varies as the and Mississippi show this phenomena.
geologic setting varies, the deviations from

References and illustrations at end of paper.

24
ORIGIN AND MAINTENANCE 2F ABNORMAL PRESSURES
2. In areas of modern tectonic action,
such as on the flanks of the Rocky
Mountaina and along the coastal
ranges of California and Indonesia,
folding has caused upwarping of
upper beds and downwarping of some
of the lower beds. The Intermediate
beds are foreshortened, and, tiiroiigh
the release of the overburden com-
pressive forces, the crystal structure
expands to fill the void created by
the warping in opposite directions
Of the over- and underlying beds.
In this semivoid, the more competent
beds wiii tend to express s gidk=t
of less than 0.465 pailft of depth
(Fig.1).
B. Sur-Pressure - a lithostatic gradient
higher than 0.465 psilft of 2c@.
1. In this case, the fluid in the pore
~oace
r—_— has begun to support some of
the overburden, and ail of the com-
pression force is not transmitted to
the rock matrix of crystal structure.20
2. Sur-pressures may be induced into
the over- and underlying beds in
the example given in Section IA,
paragraph 2 (Fig.1) or by faulting
-L1. fiUUCL&l.&&l
01 a communicau~e ---A a.:,.h+=...-.
.-..,,cac
the fluid in the cut-off zone to
bear part of the overburden weight.
The intrusion of a salt dome is re-
lated to unstable earth phenomem
and is a known example of pressuring
some of the related intruded beds.
The phenomena of gravity-related
pressured, dipping beds (artesian
wells , etc.) is a classic example of
sur-pressures relztetito teeter.lc
action, whether it is post-deposi-
tion tilting or deposition related
to pretectonic influences.
11. FORMATION OF A SEAL
Pressures related to the formation of
a seal may be formed at any time period in
sedimentation, compaction and diagenetic
cycle.4 These seals can be related to
three factors.
1. Physical seal, such as gravity faults
during deposition, deposition of finer-
grained material due to a dry or wet
period depositing finer material than
the normal deposition cycle, or a
deposit of carbonate, salt, or other
nonporous material caused by a long
period of high temperature and low rain-
fall.
SPE 384:
Thomeer gave us a very good example of
a physical seal in his reference to
the first diagenetic stage of compac-
tion.17 He stated that many of the
pressures encountered in the shallower
portions of a hole are due to the phy-
sical inability of the earth to adjust
in rapid depositional basins~ thereby
trapping pressure conditions that Wiii
equalize with geologic time under normal
~Gr,m&c~i~g-~nnditions .
2. Chemical seal, such as chemical deposi-
tion of lime combined with other normal
sedimentation (warm waters of the South
China Sea), restricting average perme-
ability. Another example ia the chemi-
cal diagenesls during compaction of
organic material associated with normal
deposition as ~.lellas other well-docu-
~nted ~he&=I Seals formed during
deposition.10~16
3. Physicai-ChemicZl seal, S*ucb.=s ~eal~
that are interrelated, physical action
that triggers a chemical reaction, or
a chemical action that causes a physi-
~a~ ~hafige in the environment of the
rock material. The pressures that are
often seen in recent geologic sequences
is an example of this type of seal
system. The age-old question, “Which
came first?” is long debatable at this
point.
A dramatic example of a physical-chemi-
cal seal and pressure contributor is
the gypsum anhydrite action. As gyp
dewaters and goes to anhydrite, there
is a 30-40% shrinkage in formation
thickness.15,18 This reaction, however,
is reversible.18 There alao exists an
intermediate stage, hemihydrate. In
the dewatering phase hemihydrate has a
15-20% shrinkage. The taking on of
water by anhydrite can be forced by a
pressure leveieciup under an Sdl@iite
and water being made available under
force for the “remineralization”. Even
if only a small percentage of the an-
hydrite was to take on water, consider
the tremendous forces that could come
to bear.3
Gypsum Remineralization Schematic
dewatering volume decrease
15-20% ~30-40% I
gypsum -+ hemihydrate +anhydrite
taking on water volume increase
30-40% ~15-20%
111. MAINTENANCE
Mobile Earth
We must realize that man has been
unable to build a container that will
hold pressure for periods longer than
historic time, let alone geologic time.
The pressures we do encounter in the
earth will tend to leak-off even if only
through molecular permeability and
geologic time. If these pressures are
to be maintained, we must have an influx
of gases or fluids equal to those escap-
ing. It is not hard to visualize, there-
fore, an influx of equal amounts of
molecules as others are escaping. If the
influx is greater, we may well exceed
the confinement strength and rupture the
seal in some manner, thereby, allowing
more material to escape than is coming
in. If this should occur in a given
circumstance where the overburden has
been lifted to a minute degree alonf+a
geologic plane, the rupture can be self-
sealing as soon as an equilibrium is
reached again. If, however, this rup-
ture is more catastrophic and the seal
is permanently violated, the once con-
fined pressures, now free to escape, will
do so until they reach a restricted perme-
ability or will cause another seal to be
formed by physical-chemical action.’
The situation of an ever-decreasing
overall area but not magnitude of sur-
pressured formations can also exist. In
this case, the molecular escape is equal-
ized by compaction in the lower portion
and at the feather edge extremities of
the pressured beds. This type of main-
tenance will eontin-ue, b“ut C?.lyat =
geologic time rate! as long as there are
escape and formation to compact.
One of the better-documented explana-
tions of maintenance of pressures is the
ionic pump principle.13,14 We are all
aware of the dialysis effect in simple
experiments. This principle must be in
play in the earth’s sedimentation se-
quences.8~9 The logging techniques that
we employ in today’s wells show us that
there is a great difference in the
salinity of formations within the earth’s
sedimentary envelopes. This difference
must, in itself, cause the generation of
pressure deferential between formations
as the fluids move through the membrane-
like clay structures. In shallower
parts of a sedimentary basin or in shales
still capable of dewatering, the water
drive from this action can maintain as
well as build pressures to the iimit of
overlying and confining parameters. 13,14,19
Electron Flow
We use the measurement of the differ-
ence in electric potential of different
formations to interpret what has been
drilled, predict the onset of pressures,
analyze production potential, etc. This
same phenomenon that we so carefully
measure is a driving force to cause and
maintain pressures. It has been long-
known and used by man in stabilizing soil
for his use.2,12 The introduction of a
current into unstable soils has dewatered
and stabilized soils so that man could
make use of them.2$5S6
To have a spontaneous potential,
formations must have a current flow. This
current flcnw- inimes :1
~.L&-
,+A. and
-t-
ga~~s with
he current in the direction of electron
flow. In simple lab experiments, pore
water has been shown to discharge at th”e
cathode even when no free water is made
available at the anode. This well-docu-
mented principle and technique must now
be considered a major contributing factor
in pressure maintenance, as well as
hydrocarbon accumulation. There are ex-
periments being done by oil companies
along these lines to classify production
areas as active or inactive reservoirs.
Buoyancy Phenomena
Pressure gradients higher than
1 psilft in some areas of the world can
be explained by a simple geologic phe-
nomenon. When the rock matrix strength
of an overlying formati~il is of S“uch
magnituce and areal extent that it is
able to hold pressures beneath it, as
well as not disperse overburden pressure
--
LU
~-.--..+a--e
hnlr-i~
LUI.ILBI-AVLL= ---- , pressures
stu12mmal
and sur-pressures can be lurking below
this competent formation.
In the Egyptian desert, the inverted
limstone pressure bridge holds the de-
watering of formations below in check
and allows the water to produce through
some of the natural vents, which causes
an oasis on the otherwise water-starved
landscape. This inverted pressure bridge
shows that the integral matrix, as well
as elastic, strength of a formation plays
its role in historical expression of sub-
pressure or existence of sur-pressures
in the earth.
b SPE 3843
ORIGIN AND MAINTENANCE
The phenomenon of return to normal
or subnormal pressures (Saudi Arabia
area) below a salt is not a matrix-
strength phenomenon but the buoyancy
effect of a wide-spread, massive salt.
The salt tends to float some of the
normal overburden pressure and allow the
existence of normal or subnormal pressures
to exist even beneath a sur-pressure zone.
Naturally, as we drill out of a salt, we
must pass through some type of perme-
ability restriction, such as a shale.
Otherwise, a- suuu
--.-J...Aa*l +“0
&~u=A.y...O a ~~lt
–
would be cemented or at least permeated
by salt brought to it in solution or by
recrystallization.
This buoyancy tendency of salt, a
lighter medium, surrounded by more C!e=se
media explains cne nonproportional, as
well as the salt dome, phenomenon of
easily increasing pressure gradients with
depth of burial. It is a seeping through
toward the surface of a less dense medium
through a more dense media. However,
where deep massive salt has not been able
to escape, it exerts an upward com-
pressive force against the downward
gravitatioml, lithostatic force, or
where an extremely competent overlying
formation exists, a pressure gradient of
greater than 1 psilft may exist.
suMMARY
The”key to successful abnormal pressure
drilling is understanding the geologic history
of the area. From this history, we can reason
the affect of tectonic or orogenetic activity
and how this activity will be expressed in the
basin sediments to be drilled.
REFERENCES
1. ATHY, L. F., “Density, Porosity, and
Compaction of Sedimentary Rocks, AAPG,
.7-
Lvu. 2, vol. ~~, ~~~o, 1-24. — 16.
2. CASAGFUNDE, P. L., !!Laelectrosmosis Y
fenomenos conexos”, Ingenieria, Mexico,
Publ. 54, Suppl.No. 2, Vol. XXXII, April
1962.
3. DeGOLYER, E. L., et.al., “Geology of Salt
Dome Oilfield”, Chicago, ~, 1926.
4. ENGELHARDT, W. V., “Der Porenraum Der
Sediment”, Springer Velag Berlin, 1960.
5. ESRIG, M. I., llElectrokinetiCS in Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering”,
Transactions of the New York Academy of
Sciences, Series 11, Vol. 33 No. 2,
Feb. 1971, 234-245.
F ABNORMAL PRESSURES
6. ESRIG, M. I., M. ASCE and J. P.
GEMEINHARDT, Jr., “Electrokinetic
Stabilization of an Illitic Clay”,
Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Founda-
tions Division, Vol. 5235 - SM3,
MSy 1967, 109-128.
7. GABRIELYANTS, G. A., “Thickness of Gas
Pools as a Function of the Thickness
of Clayey Caprocks in Fields of Kara
Kum” , DokladY Akademii Nauk SSSR, Vol.
191, No. 1, 1970.
8. GANN, D. P., ‘:C-hangesiiiionic CixIeentxe-
tions of Effuelent from Compaction of
Clay”, Univ. of Houston, Geology, 1965.
.—---- .
9. HIWMIKLT,~. ~. , “caps Pcre-Water
~h~orinities of Subsurface Shales”,
Univ. of ~~sconsin, Fh.D., Geology, i9~i.
10. LARSON, G. and G. V. CHILLINGAR, “Dia-
genesis in Sediments”, Elsevier Publish-
ing Company, Amsterdam, 1967.
11. LOUDEN, Dr. L. R. and E. W. Wooda, “IS
Shale Remineralization a Cause of Forma-
tion Damage?”, World Oil, Feb. 1970.
IfElectricity stiffens Clay
12. LOUGHNEY, R.,
Fivefold for Electric Plant Excavation”,
Construction Methods and Equipment,
August 1954, 70-79.
\tvierteljahr schr. Naturf.
13. oVERTON, E.,
Ges.”, Zurich 44, 88 (1889).
14. OVERTON, H. L. and Y. GUPTA, “Shaly
Sand Logging and Ionic Adsorption”,
The Log Analyst, March-April 1969, Vol.
X, No. 2.
15. PETTIJOHN, F. J., “Sedimentary Rocks”,
Harper Bros., New York, N. Y., 1949,
354-362.
POSNJAK, E., “Deposition of Calcium
Sulfate from Sea Water”, Azerican
Journal Science, Vol. 238, 1940, 539-
568.
17. THOMEER, J.H.M.A. , “Gee-Electrical
Subjects”, Part VII, Shell PA Report
No. 5197, The Hague, Jan. 26, 1943.
~~. VETTER, O.J.G., “Prediction of Deposi-
tion of Calcium Sulfate Scale Under
Downhole Conditions”, ~, Oct. 1970,
1299-1308.
 DR. L. R. LOmEN
spE 39$3
r NO. 2225, SePt.-Oct” 1968”
190 WALLACE, W. E., “Water Production from
Abnormally Pressured Gas Reservoirs in
South Louisiana, Part II, SpE AI~ 20. “Process for Drilling Geopressures”,
u.S. Pat. 3,399,723.

HIGHER- THAN- NORMAL

PRESSURES
/
—/
HED A

1:;-:
BED A

BED B P
BED B P

LESS-~AN-NORMAL
BED C PRESSURES
BED C

‘HIGHER - THAN- NORMAL

PRESSURES

Fig. 1 - Foreshortening of intermediate beds - shortening of B:d B, caused

by wraping of Beds A and C, causes unique pressure problems.