Overburden pressure is caused by the weight of the rocks above the formation pre
ssing down on the rocks below. This is sometimes called overburden stress - stre
ss and pressure have the same units of measurement.
Integrating the density log versus depth or estimating the average rock density
profile and integrating will calculate this pressure:
1. Po = KS9 * SUM (DENSi * INCR)
WHERE:
Po = overburden pressure (KPa or psi)
DENSi = density log reading at the i-th data point (Kg/m3 or gm/cc)
INCR = digital data increment (meters or feet)
KS9 = 0.01 for metric units
KS9 = 0.0605 for English units
Overburden pressure gradient is:
2: (Po/D) = Po / DEPTH
A literature search will turn up some relationships for (PO/D) for specific area
s, such as this one for the North Sea:
3: (Po/D) = (ln(DEPTH - EKB) - 0.5185) / 3.47
In this equation, depth is in meters.
NOTE: All depths must be true vertical depths.
Typical values for (Po/D)
psi/ft
KPa/meter
Sandstone 30% porosity
0.91
20.6
Sandstone 20% porosity
0.98
22.2
Sandstone 10% porosity
1.05
23.8
Sandstone 0% porosity
1.12
25.4
Siltstone
1.15
26.0
Shale
1.23
27.7
Limestone
1.15
26.0
Dolomite
1.21
27.4
Anhydrite
1.26
28.5
For a real rock sequence, these values may be integrated over each lithologic in
terval, or can be used to replace density log data over bad hole or missing log
intervals. If the density log is in porosity units, use the appropriate transfor
ms to build a density log. The log below shows the type of editing that might be
needed on a density log before integration.
Editing density logs based on the log response equation applied to a competent p
etrophysical
analysis of valid data.
sure.
Some engineering problems require the initial formation pressure, before any pro
duction has occurred. The pore pressure needed for fracture pressure calculation
s is the current pore pressure at the time the frac is to be performed. Since re
servoir pressure depends on the past history of production from all wells in the
pool, local pressure anomalies may be present. The best pressure to use is the
actual, measured, extrapolated shut in pressure for the zone and well to be frac
tured.
If no measured formation pressures exist, the mud weight hydrostatic pressure ca
n be taken as the upper limit for the pore pressure. A lower limit would be the
mud weight during a gas kick.