3D pore pressure prediction in the offshore Nile Delta, prestack inversion based workflow for drilling optimization and risk mitigation

Abstract

The offshore Nile delta basin, which is considered as one of the world’s high-pressure basins, is where the study develops the geopressured cube in 3D for the sapphire field. The key phase in the pressure prediction process is thought to be the interval velocity. In this study, we aim to use high-quality seismic data to estimate the shear and acoustic impedance volumes from the seismic pre-stack inversion technique. These cubes are then transformed into a high-resolution 3D interval velocity cube, which act as the initial and crucial input for the pressure estimation. Using four wells for model building and one for model evaluation, the workflow generated complete 3D cubes for overburden, effective stress, and formation pressure using the pre-stack inversion velocity. Optimizing the Eaton and Bowers equations parameter to be valid in the offshore Nile delta rather than the standard parameter from the Gulf of Mexico. it is considered One of the paper’s novelties. There is a high correlation between the pressure calculated from the logging while drilling (LWD) at the rig site and the formation pressure derived from the workflow. The technique shows a novel method for use in the well-planning and exploratory stages.