Porosity and effective stress relationships in mudrocks

Abstract

It has generally been assumed that porosity reduction during mechanical compaction of a sediment is controlled by the increase in vertical effective stress. But the theory of mechanical compaction shows that it is the mean effective stress which controls porosity reduction. According to published data, horizontal stresses increase with overpressure, as well as with depth, so mean stress and vertical stress profiles are poorly correlated in overpressured sections. In this study, a new methodology was developed whereby mudrock pore pressures were estimated principally by comparison of void ratios calculated from wireline log response with hydrostatic mean effective stress (the mean effective stress assuming the pore pressure is hydrostatic). These pressure estimates in the low permeability units were compared to the direct measurements in the aquifer units and an interpretation is made as to the origin of the excess pressure. The results of analysis of seven wells from SE Asia are presented including one study where seismic velocity analysis and basin modelling were performed to assess the pore pressure. The main conclusions of the study are: The proposed new methodology for estimating shale pore pressure from void ratio and mean effective stress analysis appears to be more consistent with the data and represents an improvement on previous methodologies using porosity and vertical effective stress or depth. Analysis of the mudrocks in this study indicates that the shales often appear to have significantly higher pressures than the adjacent aquifer units. The results of using mean (as opposed to vertical) effective stress analysis indicates that the pressure profiles in the wells studied, the profiles disequilibrium compaction can account for all or nearly all of the encountered overpressures. Evidence has been found for significant overpressure generated by fluid expansion in one of the seven wells studied.« Further work to refine the Breckels and Van Eekelen (1982) relationship between overpressure and horizontal stress is proposed to improve the accuracy of the methodology used in this study.