Seismic Detection of Shallow High Pore Pressure Zones - Offshore

Seismic detection of shallow high pore pressure zones - Offshore 7/13/17, 10(56 AM
Seismic
detection of
shallow high
pore pressure
zones
12/01/1999
Predicting over-pressure is one of the major

challenges facing the oil industry, in particular
as exploration moves into deeper water. Very
high porosity and water content are typical for
fine-grained sediments at shallow sediment
depths in the marine environment.
Over about 20 years, Statoil has worked to

improve its seismic interpretation practice by
utilizing information gained from shallow
sediment depth on high-resolution seismic data.
http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/print/volume-59/issue-12/newsration/seismic-detection-of-shallow-high-pore-pressure-zones.html Page 1 of 12
Using typically 3.5-kHz high-resolution data, the

work has become especially relevant for deep
water applications, where the thickness of low
sediment consolidation is generally greater than
at shallow water depths.
Because gases in marine sediments are

ubiquitous, especially in hydrocarbon producing
areas, learning to ground truth and interpret the
typical gas-associated signatures on high-
resolution records has paid off, especially for
hazard evaluation. The presence of gas-
charged sediments often leads to over-
pressuring of pore waters in adjacent, low-
permeability sediment bodies. The "tidal
pumping" model mentioned by Hovland and
Judd today is used to explain why excess pore
pressures often occur adjacent to shallow gas-
charged sediments.
We will illustrate the appearance of excess-

pressure zones in un-lithified sediments on both
high-resolution data and conventional 2D
seismic. We will also explain the governing
formation mechanisms. In the near future, we
intend to go one step further and use seismic
modeling techniques to further test the model
numerically by producing synthetic
seismograms.
Tidal pumping
Pagoda structures signify excess pore water
pressure in the subsurface. Note the elevated
seabed where the subsurface sediments are
acoustically transparent (modified from Emery,
1974 and Hovland and Judd, 1988).
Click here to enlarge image
Our interpretation model goes back to the

interpretation of various high-resolution seismic
records in the mid-1980s. Hovland and Curzi
found that an acoustically transparent zone on
a high-resolution seismic record could best be
explain ed by the presence of excess pore
pressure.
Another indicator of excess pore pressure is a

slightly increased elevation (a "lifting") of the
local seabed surface (see figure). Today, we
have a more complete explanation. The model
is based on a theory for the continuous upward
flux of gas molecules, which must be occurring
in any hydrocarbon producing environment.
Furthermore, it is based on the hydraulic or tidal

pumping idea, and the fact that a single-phase
fluid (water) moves more readily through
sediment pores than a multi-phase fluid. This
effect causes segregation of free gas and gas
dissolved in pore water. The "motor" in the
system is the continuous cyclic loading by tidal
forces and storm surges occurring in any
marine environment.
In a study on the effects of gassy marine

sediments for engineering, Sills and Wheeler
concluded: "The presence of undissolved gas
can change the soil response to external
loading, associated with the compressibility of
the soil. The bulk modulus is no longer infinite,
and volume changes occur even during an
undrained response to load.
"One of the ways of examining the significance

of this effect is by consideration of surface
movements under one-dimensional conditions.
In this situation, no undrained movement would
occur without the presence of gas. The
magnitude of the deformation will be
determined by the applied load, the soil
stiffness, and the gas content. Substantial
movements have been measured in the
laboratory for very soft soils."
Even though these "substantial movements"

mentioned here might only be in the millimeter
scale, it is the actual occurrence of cyclic
movements in the sediment pore water system
that is of utmost importance. These results
explain how the presence of gas bubbles will
act as an effective "actuator" or "buried motor"
in the sediments.
Each bubble reacts to high tide (including storm

surges) with contraction and low tide with
expansion.
A sediment volume containing free gas (seen

on seismic as a bright-spot or enhanced
reflector) where all bubbles react synchronously
and contract and expand in harmony, will
therefore act as a bellows on nearby water-
saturated sediments, which are more or less
incompressible. Besides sending regular
pressure pulses into the surrounding water-
saturated sediments, this "pumping" effect may
also accentuate gas and pore water migration
through the pore water system of the
sediments.
Creating reservoirs
A 3.5-kHz sub-bottom profile record showing

transparent acoustic features indicating excess
pore water pressures (from Hovland and Curzi,
1989).
Holbrook has recently explained how

hydrocarbons in a pore water solution and in a
two-phase system can contribute towards
producing segregated and isolated shallow
pockets (or reservoirs) of free gas. He also
explains simply why pore water flow is more
common through the sediments, rather than a
two-phase flow: "It takes much more work to
force a two-phase fluid into a capillary size
fracture or pore than for a single-phase fluid.
"The increased pressure required is about

double that of a single phase fluid, depending
mostly upon aperture size and non-wetting fluid
contact angleellipse migrating hydrocarbons
are trapped by capillary pressure while
migrating water at the same pressure is not."
Whereas pore water with dissolved methane is

free to migrate through the pores, evolving free
gases are not. On ascent and de-pressurization
of vertically migrating pore water, these free
gases will form and accumulate in areas of the
water-saturated sediment body wherever
possible, and form small gas pockets
depending on the local in situ porosity and
permeability. The trapping mechanism for such
shallow gas pockets will be capillary, rather
than by changes in lithology.
Even so, once a shallow gas accumulation has

formed, it will act as any other buried
hydrocarbon reservoir: "When the pressure in
the compartment, which is exposed to the

valve, exceeds the fracture propagation
pressure, the valve will open. Fracture
permeability increases exponentially as pore
pressure approaches caprock fracture
propagation pressure," according to Walsh.
"With fluid release, fluid pressure within the

compartment will fall until the fracture closes at
fracture propagation pressure," says Holbrook.
The "compartment" mentioned here is our
observed free gas pocket. The "valve" is a
fissure or any other vertical weakness in the
sediments confining the gas pocket.
Examples
There are a large set of features associated
with pore water pressured by gas-charge (see
figure) including the following:
Acoustically turbid zones caused by gas-

charge (contains free gas bubbles)
Acoustically transparent sediment zones,
i.e. but with dissolved gas in a higher-
than-hydrostatic pressure environment
Small columnar acoustic voids or
transparent zones, indicating high pore
pressure transmitting into shallower
sediments
Acoustic voids in deformed sediments
(shale, diapiric structures rooted in the
shallow zone with the columnar voids)
Finely layered undisturbed upper
sediments
Gas seepage associated with one of the
shale diapirs
Diapiric structures on the seabed
The observed gas seepage at one of the

diapiric structures on the seabed in the figure
can be explained by pressure release at the
sediment/water boundary. When gas-saturated
pore water of higher-than-hydrostatic pressure
makes contact with the seawater column,
pressure is released forming bubbles (the
champagne bottle effect).
Pagoda structures
Amplitude anomalies (bright spots) and

acoustically transparent sediments as recorded
on standard 2D multi-channel seismic reflection
data offshore Nigeria. The letter "E" denotes a
gas-charged zone (bright spot).
Pagoda structures are noted where subsurface

acoustically transparent (or void) zones occur
(see figure). Here, all coherent reflections tend
to disappear. At first, when these features were
discovered, they were thought to represent
artifacts. On one occasion, the survey vessel
propulsion was even turned off and the vessel
drifted slowly across one of the features.
Because the acoustic feature was still there,

and because it had grown in size proportionally
to the traverse speed reduction, it had to be
concluded that the feature was but another of
nature's many mysteries. However, on closer
examination it can be noted that the seabed is
slightly elevated above the transparent zones.
This could be the result of excess pore

pressure inside the zones. Any seepage of pore
water or gas from such an area would probably
occur where the pressure was highest (at the
base or top of such structures).
Acoustically transparent zones are not only

seen on shallow seismic records. In deepwater
areas with shales, such as off the outer Niger
delta, such zones can easily be detected and
mapped on 2D and 3D seismic sections.
Transparent zones
Another figure shows acoustically transparent
zones interpreted as over-pressured aquifers.
There are also acoustically high reflective
zones (bright spots) where it is expected that
free gas bubbles occur in the sediments. Some
of these zones have reverse polarity.
There are acoustically transparent zones where

the pore pressure is expected to be slightly
higher than hydrostatic, and where the gas is
(suspected to be) fully dissolved in the pore
water (see accompanying figure). Also, there
are some vertical faults, some of which
represent pressure barriers and migration
pathways for gas-charged pore water. Finally,
http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/print/volume-59/issue-12/newration/seismic-detection-of-shallow-high-pore-pressure-zones.html Page 10 of 12
there is evidence of deformed shales caused by

hydrofracturing and pressure transmission.
Questions
One of the remaining questions to be answered
is why the high-pressured zones occur as
acoustically transparent or blank (void) zones.
One answer could be that the locally higher
pressure increases the bulk water content of
the sediment, and thereby increases the
volume, thus producing a fluid-supported
sediment system, rather than grain-supported
sediment. It is suspected that the acoustic P-
waves travel through these zones as if they
consisted of pure water, without detecting
impedance contrasts and therefore without
providing any coherent reflectors.
There is other information recorded from deep

ocean sediments that support such an
explanation model. When Schuttenhelm et al.
(1985) sampled silty clay from the Nares
Abyssal Plain in the Atlantic Ocean, where
pagoda-like structures occur, they found the
porosity of the sediments to vary 75-80%, with
water contents as high as 140%. The water
content in adjacent silt layers was only 30%.
The water content of sediments is calculated as
a percentage of weight wet sediment,
compared to the weight of dry sediment.
We believe this interpretation model provides

an improved way of rationally predicting excess
formation pressures in unlithified sediments. It
is preferable to drilling more or less blindly or
"guestimating" the pressure distribution on the
basis of other indirect methods.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Statoil, TGS-Calibre
Geophysical Company, and Mabon Limited
(TGSI/Mabon) for the release of the one of the
data examples shown.
A list of references is available upon request.
Copyright 2007-2016 PennWell Corporation, Tulsa, OK. All Rights Reserved. Terms and
Conditions | Privacy Policy

Seismic Detection of Shallow High Pore Pressure Zones - Offshore

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Seismic Detection of Shallow High Pore Pressure Zones - Offshore

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Seismic detection of shallow high pore pressure zones - Offshore 7/13/17, 10(56 AM

Predicting over-pressure is one of the major

Over about 20 years, Statoil has worked to

Using typically 3.5-kHz high-resolution data, the

Because gases in marine sediments are

We will illustrate the appearance of excess-

Our interpretation model goes back to the

Another indicator of excess pore pressure is a

Furthermore, it is based on the hydraulic or tidal

In a study on the effects of gassy marine

"One of the ways of examining the significance

Even though these "substantial movements"

Each bubble reacts to high tide (including storm

A sediment volume containing free gas (seen

A 3.5-kHz sub-bottom profile record showing

Holbrook has recently explained how

"The increased pressure required is about

Whereas pore water with dissolved methane is

Even so, once a shallow gas accumulation has

the compartment, which is exposed to the

"With fluid release, fluid pressure within the

Acoustically turbid zones caused by gas-

The observed gas seepage at one of the

Amplitude anomalies (bright spots) and

Pagoda structures are noted where subsurface

drifted slowly across one of the features.

Because the acoustic feature was still there,

This could be the result of excess pore

Acoustically transparent zones are not only

There are acoustically transparent zones where

there is evidence of deformed shales caused by

There is other information recorded from deep

We believe this interpretation model provides

A list of references is available upon request.

You might also like