Sub-salt oil and gas formations in deep-water northern Gulf of Mexico are high priority targets. Advances in seismic processing allow for high-resolution, below-salt imaging. Understanding the modes of salt emplacement provide insight into sub-salt traps and potential drilling hazards. A sub-salt sedimentary unit lies in the Keathley Canyon protraction. Autosutures created the transport-parallel lineaments of the upper surface of the unit. In addition, highly variable sediment aggradation rates created ramps, flats, and basal cutoffs along the base of the allochthon as salt and sediment competed for space. Seismic models identify modes of salt emplacement, salt/sediment interactions, and mechanisms responsible for the morphology. Petrophysical assessments highlight an abnormally pressured, dirty salt environment transitioning into a gouge zone. Dirty salt adds an element of difficulty to managing borehole pressures requiring a unique mud-weight plan designed to resist formation pressures without fracturing lithology.

This study aims to analyze the leak-off tests carried out in the Thrace Basin of Turkey by Turkish Petroleum Corporation and find any relationship that may exist between leak-off test results and drilled formations as well as drilling parameters, such as mud weight, depth. The analysis of 77 leak-off tests indicated that there is no close correlation between the mud weight of test fluid and equivalent mud weight (fracture gradient) if the test is carried out within impermeable sections. On the other hand, the correlation between mud weight and equivalent mud weight increase while running the test within permeable-productive zones. It is also found that the leak-off test results are not dependent on the depth but the formation to be tested. The analyzed leak-off test results from Thrace Basin showed that the fracture gradient is not the limiting factor to set the casing of any section unless a gas show is observed during drilling operation which occurred only in 5 wells out of 78 wells analyzed.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:09:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ClovisDF_TESE_partes_autorizadas.pdf: 2764652 bytes, checksum: e400922c312c00169022c2f987a6d8b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-13 / The development of oil wells drilling requires additional cares mainly if the drilling is in offshore ultra deep water with low overburden pressure gradients which cause low fracture gradients and, consequently, difficult the well drilling by the reduction of the operational window. To minimize, in the well planning phases, the difficulties faced by the drilling in those sceneries, indirect models are used to estimate fracture gradient that foresees approximate values for leakoff tests. These models generate curves of geopressures that allow detailed analysis of the pressure behavior for the whole well. Most of these models are based on the Terzaghi equation, just differentiating in the determination of the values of rock tension coefficient. This work proposes an alternative method for prediction of fracture pressure gradient based on a geometric correlation that relates the pressure gradients proportionally for a given depth and extrapolates it for the whole well depth, meaning that theses parameters vary in a fixed proportion. The model is based on the application of analytical proportion segments corresponding to the differential pressure related to the rock tension. The study shows that the proposed analytical proportion segments reaches values of fracture gradient with good agreement with those available for leakoff tests in the field area. The obtained results were compared with twelve different indirect models for fracture pressure gradient prediction based on the compacting effect. For this, a software was developed using Matlab language. The comparison was also made varying the water depth from zero (onshore wellbores) to 1500 meters. The leakoff tests are also used to compare the different methods including the one proposed in this work. The presented work gives good results for error analysis compared to other methods and, due to its simplicity, justify its possible application / O desenvolvimento da perfura??o de po?os de petr?leo requer cuidados adicionais principalmente se a perfura??o for mar?tima em l?mina d ?gua ultraprofunda, o que levam a baixos gradientes de sobrecarga, ocasionando baixos gradientes de fratura e, conseq?entemente, dificultando as opera??es de perfura??o pela redu??o da janela operacional. Para minimizar as dificuldades enfrentadas pela perfura??o nesses cen?rios, na fase de planejamento, s?o utilizados modelos indiretos para estimativa do gradiente de fratura, que podem prev? valores aproximados dos testes de absor??o. Esses modelos geram perfis de geopress?o que permitem a an?lise detalhada do comportamento das press?es em todo o intervalo do po?o. A maioria dos modelos tem como base a equa??o de Terzaghi, diferenciando apenas na determina??o dos valores do coeficiente de tens?o da matriz da rocha. Este trabalho prop?e uma forma alternativa diferente, para se estimar o gradiente de fratura, por meio de uma correla??o geom?trica que relaciona proporcionalmente os gradientes de press?o para cada profundidade em todo o intervalo do po?o. As grandezas envolvidas variam em uma mesma propor??o em todo intervalo do po?o. O modelo baseia-se na aplica??o da propor??o ?urea do segmento sobre o diferencial de press?o correspondente ? tens?o da matriz. O estudo mostra que a propor??o ?urea encontra valores de gradiente de fratura com grande aproxima??o dos valores de testes de absor??o dispon?veis da ?rea. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com doze modelos indiretos distintos que estimam gradiente de fratura baseados no efeito da compacta??o. Para isto, um programa em linguagem Matlab foi desenvolvido. A compara??o tamb?m foi feita com a varia??o de l?minas d ?gua variando de zero (para po?os terrestres, por exemplo) a 1500 m. A medida da precis?o para avalia??o de cada m?todo toma como referencial os valores de testes de absor??o e ? feita atrav?s do erro relativo percentual. A precis?o mostrada nos valores apresentados na an?lise de erro e a forma bastante simples do modelo proposto mostram que ? justific?vel a sua aplica??o

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:01:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RomeroGSAF_DISSERT.pdf: 5251211 bytes, checksum: 91e35eccdc843f543fbc2744a816fb64 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-16 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / All around the world, naturally occurring hydrocarbon deposits, consisting of oil and gas contained within rocks called reservoir rocks , generally sandstone or carbonate exists. These deposits are in varying conditions of pressure and depth from a few hundred to several thousand meters. In general, shallow reservoirs have greater tendency to fracture, since they have low fracture gradient, ie fractures are formed even with relatively low hydrostatic columns of fluid. These low fracture gradient areas are particularly common in onshore areas, like the Rio Grande do Norte basin. During a well drilling, one of the most favorable phases for the occurrence of fractures is during cementing, since the cement slurry used can have greater densities than the maximum allowed by the rock structure. Furthermore, in areas which are already naturally fractured, the use of regular cement slurries causes fluid loss into the formation, which may give rise to failures cementations and formation damages. Commercially, there are alternatives to the development of lightweight cement slurries, but these fail either because of their enormous cost, or because the cement properties were not good enough for most general applications, being restricted to each transaction for which the cement paste was made, or both reasons. In this work a statistical design was made to determine the influence of three variables, defined as the calcium chloride concentration, vermiculite concentration and nanosilica concentration in the various properties of the cement. The use of vermiculite, a low density ore present in large amounts in northeastern Brazil, as extensor for cementing slurries, enabled the production of stable cements, with high water/cement ratio, excellent rheological properties and low densities, which were set at 12.5 lb / gal, despite the fact that lower densities could be achieved. It is also seen that the calcium chloride is very useful as gelling and thickening agent, and their use in combination with nanosilica has a great effect on gel strength of the cement. Hydrothermal Stability studies showed that the pastes were stable in these conditions, and mechanical resistance tests showed values of the order of up to 10 MPa / Em todo o mundo, ocorrem naturalmente dep?sitos de hidrocarbonetos, constitu?dos de petr?leo e g?s natural, contidos dentro de rochas denominadas "rochas reservat?rio", em geral arenitos ou carbonatos. Esses dep?sitos existem em variadas condi??es de press?o e profundidade, desde poucas centenas at? milhares de metros. Em geral, reservat?rios mais "rasos" t?m a tend?ncia a fraturar mais facilmente, pois possuem baixo gradiente de fratura, ou seja, as fraturas s?o formadas mesmo com colunas hidrost?ticas de fluido relativamente baixas. Essas zonas de baixo gradiente de fratura s?o particularmente mais comuns em zonas onshore, como aqui no Rio Grande do Norte. Um dos momentos mais prop?cios para a ocorr?ncia de fraturas ? durante a cimenta??o do po?o, ao se utilizar uma pasta cimentante de densidade superior ao m?ximo permitido pela estrutura rochosa. Al?m disso, em zonas j? naturalmente fraturadas, o uso de cimentos comuns causa perda de fluido para a forma??o, o que pode dar causa a cimenta??es falhas. Comercialmente, existem alternativas para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de pastas de cimento leves, mas esses falham ou em raz?o de seu elevad?ssimo custo, ou em fun??o das propriedades da pasta obtida n?o serem suficientemente boas para aplica??es mais gen?ricas, ficando restritas a cada opera??o para qual a pasta de cimento foi feita. Nesse trabalho foi realizado um planejamento estat?stico para determinar a influ?ncia de tr?s vari?veis, definidas como a concentra??o de cloreto de c?lcio, concentra??o de vermiculita e concentra??o de nano s?lica, nas v?rias propriedades do cimento. O uso da vermiculita, um min?rio de baixa densidade presente em grandes quantidades no nordeste brasileiro, como extensor para pastas cimentantes, permitiu a produ??o de pastas est?veis, com alta raz?o ?gua/cimento, propriedades reol?gicas excelentes e baixas densidades, que foram fixadas em 12,5 lb/Gal. Viu-se tamb?m que o cloreto de c?lcio ? um poderoso viscosificante e gelificante, e seu uso combinado com a nano s?lica possui grande efeito nas for?as g?is do cimento. Estudos de estabilidade hidrot?rmica mostraram que as pastas foram est?veis nessas condi??es, e os ensaios de resist?ncia mec?nica mostraram valores da ordem de at? 10 MPa

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / An accurate prediction of pore pressure is an essential in reducing the risk involved in a well or field life cycle. This has formed an integral part of routine work for exploration, development and exploitation team in the oil and gas industries. Several factors such as sediment compaction, overburden, lithology characteristic, hydrocarbon pressure and capillary entry pressure contribute significantly to the cause of overpressure. Hence, understanding the dynamics associated with the above factors will certainly reduce the risk involved in drilling and production. This study examined three deep water drilled wells GA-W1, GA-N1, and GA-AA1 of lower cretaceous Hauterivian to early Aptian age between 112 to 117.5 (MA) Southern Pletmos sub-basin, Bredasdorp basin offshore South Africa. The study aimed to determine the pore pressure prediction of the reservoir formation of the wells. Eaton’s resistivity and Sonic method are adopted using depth dependent normal compaction trendline (NCT) has been carried out for this study. The variation of the overburden gradient (OBG), the Effective stress, Fracture gradient (FG), Fracture pressure (FP), Pore pressure gradient (PPG) and the predicted pore pressure (PPP) have been studied for the selected wells. The overburden changes slightly as follow: 2.09g/cm3, 2.23g/cm3 and 2.24g/cm3 across the selected intervals depth of wells. The predicted pore pressure calculated for the intervals depth of selected wells GA-W1, GA-N1 and GA-AA1 also varies slightly down the depths as follow: 3,405 psi, 4,110 psi, 5,062 psi respectively. The overpressure zone and normal pressure zone were encountered in well GA-W1, while a normal pressure zone was experienced in both well GA-N1 and GA-AA1. In addition, the direct hydrocarbon indicator (DHI) was carried out by method of post-stack amplitude analysis seismic reflectors surface which was used to determine the hydrocarbon prospect zone of the wells from the seismic section. It majorly indicate the zones of thick hydrocarbon sand from the amplitude extraction grid map horizon reflectors at 13AT1 & 8AT1 and 8AT1 & 1AT1 of the well GA-W1, GA-N1 and GA-AA1 respectively. These are suggested to be the hydrocarbon prospect locations (wet-gas to Oil prone source) on the seismic section with fault trending along the horizons. No bright spot, flat spot and dim spot was observed except for some related pitfalls anomalies