Improving hydrocarbon exploration with pore pressure assisted earth-model building

Abstract

In shale-dominated clastic lithology environments, a rock-physics model relating velocity and pore pressure (PP) can be calibrated and used to convert velocity to PP properties. The crossvalidation between velocity and overpressure, which follows the geology, can be used to better understand the model, help to build an initial velocity model, and allow selecting tomography solutions with more confidence. The velocity model developed using this approach is more plausible and more suitable for subsequent PP analysis. We highlight the application of this method in areas with poor seismic illumination and insufficient well control.