PRESSRURE CAUSES, PRESSURE CUALITATIVE AND PRESSURE CUANTITATIVE

PRESSURE CAUSES

They are those pressures that carry the oil from a deposit to a producing well. When
production begins, a pressure drop produced in the formation surrounding the well causes oil
to flow through the pore networks present in the deposit to the extraction point. With the
extraction of oil and the subsequent pressure drop that occurs in the field, oil, water and rock
expand. The changes in pressure, expansion and movement of all these materials affect the
production of oil.

A pre-existing rock must undergo a series of processes before forming in a shale rock
(sedimentary rock). Among those processes we have:

 Interperism
 Erosion (mechanical, biological and chemical)
 Transport (wind, rivers, glaciers)
 Deposit (lakes, basins, estuaries, etc.)
 Lithification (compaction, cementing)
 Diagenesis (dissolution, recrystallization, mineral replacement, autigenic
crystallization).

The transport must be prolonged so that the particles that form them are of clay and silt size.
These particles are deposited gradually. By depositing in a marine environment these particles
are surrounded by water and as they accumulate, the pressure of overload is compacting the
grains and forcing water out, however not all the water comes out of its pores and irreducible
water remains in it. The shale is a very porous rock but not permeable, the compaction by the
weight of overburden and the depth are redicing the porosity and the permeability of the rock.

Not all the efforts in the formation are supported by the grains or matrix of the rock, they are
also supported by the fluids that it contains in its porous spaces. These stresses supported by
fluids in the porous spaces are expressed as Pore Pressure and the stresses borne by grain and
grain contact is known as Matrix Effort, Intergranular Effort or Effective Effort. The
combination of these two efforts is the Total Effort and it is who helps to support the
Overload.

TOTAL EFFORT = PORE PRESSURE + EFFECTIVE EFFORT

OVERLOAD PRESSURE: is the pressure exerted by the total weight of the formations including
the density of the grains that make up the rock, its pores and the fluids it contains, all of them
superimposed on top of the study area.

The Hydrostatic Pressure: is the pressure exerted by a column of fluid in the bottom. The
hydrostatic pressure only depends on the vertical depth and the density of the fluid.

THE PRESSURE OF PORO: is the pressure that acts on the fluids contained in the porous
spaces.

There are three states of pore pressure:

 Abnormal pressure
 Normal pressure
 Subnormal pressure
 For there to be abnormal pressures or pressures above the normal pore pressure there must
be a rapid subsidence and accumulation of sediments where the fluid contained in the pores
does not have time to exit.

Another additional mechanism is the thermal expansion due to the depth, which helps to
develop areas of abnormal pressures. If the fluid contained in the pores of the rocks has free
mobility or can migrate to other formations then only normal and subnormal pressures will
develop.

THE NORMAL PORE PRESSURE: is the hydrostatic pressure of a column of fluid that acts on the
porous spaces of the formation from the surface to the vertical depth to be studied. This
depends on the dissolved salts in the fluid, type of fluid and temperature gradient.

SUBNORMAL PRESSURE: refers to when the pore pressure is lower than normal pressure or
hydrostatic pressure, which occurs less frequently than abnormal pressures that are normally
normal in areas where hydrocarbons have been produced.

ABNORMAL PRESSURES: are those pressures that exceed the normal pore pressure. This
pressure is important to know when drilling a well because these areas have the danger of
sudden escape of fluids.

Several important causes are sources that generate abnormal pressures such as the diagenesis
of clays such as montmorillonite which swells in the presence of water and under high
temperature conditions undergoes a chemical change to illite, during this process the water
leaves the montmorillonite and is trapped in the pores without being able to migrate
generating abnormal pressures.

Another cause is thermal expansions. The fluids when heated in a confined space, the pressure
of this fluid increases due to the expansion of the gases, this geothermal gradient increases
with depth which makes this a phenomenon typically present in deep formations.

The paleo pressures or tectonic uplifts cause the raised formations to remain at shallower
depths giving them higher pressure gradients, as well as in areas that have been eroded
leaving the strata containing the fluids less deep without being able to migrate.

FRACTURE GRADIENT: is the pressure that can cause the formation to break mechanically and
begin to take fluid. The fracture gradient depends on the pore pressure, the type of rock and
the depth of the formation. The gradient of the shales is lower than that of the sandstones
because the sandstones withstand high pressures before the fracture occurs. The fracture
gradient has two components, an Initial Pressure which is necessary to initiate the fracture and
a Propagation Pressure which is lower than the initial one but is required to propagate the
fracture that has already been formed and is the beginning where the training starts to take
fluid.

There are two common procedures for determining the fracture pressure of a formation:

LEAK-OFF TEST (LOT): This test is performed below the last cemented casing to prove that
there is no communication with the surface, determine the fracture gradient in the shoe and
determine the maximum pressure in the ring allowed as the maximum possible density to
work in the next stage. In the graph the pressure curve versus volume of pumped mud the
point where the curve stops having a linear behavior is called "leak off", this is the actual
pressure below which the formation fractures and begins to take fluid.

FIT INTEGRITY TEST (FORMATION INTEGRITY TEST): shows a maximum equivalent density
hydrostatic fluid pressure at which there will be no leakage of fluid into the formation,
however this is not very helpful in determining the maximum allowable annular pressure .

EQUIVALENT CIRCULATION DENSITY: for a fluid that is in motion is the sum of the entire
hydrostatic column and frictional pressure drops in the annulus at vertical depth.

There are efforts such as pore pressure and hydrostatic pressure of the fluid in the column of
the hole that act as external stresses on the casing trying to crush or collapse it, these efforts is
called Collapse Pressure and the greatest external effort of this occurs at the bottom of the
hole with the empty pipe.

PRESSURE CUALITAITVE:

 NORMAL OR HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE: These pressures are those caused primarily by

the weight of the water column. The gradient of normal pressures we said is 0.433 psi
/ ft. This gradient is shown as Hydrostatic pressure.

In general, we say that the pressures are normal for such production if they fall or are
located near the normal pressure gradient, that is, in practice we say that if they have
a gradient that oscillates between 0.40 and 0.50 psi / ft we say that the pressure is
normal.

 ABNORMAL PRESSURES OR GEOPRESSIONS: Abnormal pressures are those that are

significantly high for depth consideration. These pressures will always fall or be plotted
to the right of what is considered normal or hydrostatic pressures. We can also define
them as those pressures that are expressed in a gradient of more than 0.50 psi / ft.

Abnormal pressures occur when the rock matrix is compacted and the pore fluids can
not escape or when the gases and fluids within the pores expand and the rock matrix
does not allow it in any case the result that you have is that the permeability decreases
and the gases / fluids can not exit.

Abnormal pressures are supremely common in many sedimentary basins around the
world. They are found or occur at various depths and in formations of different
geological ages. We can say that they are mostly associated with clastic sequences of
fine grains or large masses of clay. However, they can be associated with other
lithologies.

 STATIC BACKGROUND PRESSURE: It is the pressure of a reservoir to static conditions,

that is, when there is no movement of fluids within it and all the phases are in
equilibrium. This pressure is measured at the bottom of a well at the level of the area
of the canyon, when it has remained closed for a sufficient time until it stabilizes.

 FLOWING BOTTOM PRESSURE: It is the pressure that is measured at the bottom of a

well at the level of the canyon area, at flow conditions governed by a strangler. That is
 to say that the well is being produced or that the fluids are not in equilibrium in the
reservoir.

MEASUREMENT OF RESERVOIR PRESSURES: After drilling, existing concerns about pressure

are normally transferred to reservoir and production management operations. Understanding
the pressures present in the field ultimately affects the production and recovery of the
investment and, today, can even provide guidelines for additional wells to optimize
production. Operational demands dictate how and when pressure measurements are
obtained, with numerous methods and tools available to measure and monitor (monitor)
reservoir pressures virtually at any time during the life cycle of a well. As described above, the
understanding of pressure begins with pre-drilling estimates based on seismic data and
neighboring wells and is further refined during drilling. Reservoir and production engineers
obtain additional measurements by using record acquisition tools or permanent sensors in the
well or on the surface. Among the various purposes with which reservoir engineers use precise
pressure measurements are the identification and typing of objectives, the definition of fluid
contacts and the evaluation of the continuity of the reservoirs. Obtaining the precision
required in the measurements involves the use of services such as the MDT tool, the reservoir
pressure measurement service during the acquisition of PressureXpress records or the tools
for measuring the formation pressure during drilling. . In these services, high-quality data are
obtained during tests known as pre-tests, if enough time is expected for pressure stabilization
before the measurement, so that the pressure inside the tool is balanced with the pressure of
the formation. In addition, by performing a large number of pre-tests it is possible to establish
fluid gradients. Later, in mature reservoir environments in which production has been
substantial, measurements of formation pressure are used to quantify depletion, evaluate
pressure support or analyze in greater detail the continuity of the reservoir. While the
precision requirements of pressure measurements may not be as stringent in mature
reservoirs, the ability to measure pressures across a wide range of formation permeabilities
may be crucial for increasing hydrocarbon recovery.