Estimation of upper limit of pore pressure by fault stability analysis

Generally, the pore pressure for a pre-drill well is predicted using empirical parameters, which are regressed from the drilled well's data. However, for areas with large geological differences, empirical parameters which are obtained using traditional methods may fail because intense tectonic movement would result in huge differences between the pre-drill well and drilled well. Firstly, in order to overcome this problem, the method of fault stability analysis is introduced. Analysis indicates that when abnormal overpressure exceeds a certain value, the fault ruptures and the overpressured fluid escapes, so that there is an upper limit of pore pressure (ULPP) for the stable fault. Secondly, the influences of fault angle, formation Poisson ratio and modulus of elasticity on the ULPP are discussed further. The results show that the ULPP of a fault with angle of 65.2 degrees is the minimum, and the critical angle increases with the increase of internal friction coefficient. For reverse faults and strike faults, the influences of Poisson ratio and modulus of elasticity are small, but for normal faults these are significant. Finally, three kinds of ULPP for these different faults are proposed, respectively. The application of this method in the Xihu Sag in the East China Sea has proved that reference to ULPP can verify and correct regressed empirical parameters, so as to improve pore pressure prediction accuracy.