Book Reviews / Marine and Petroleum Geology 17 (2000) 557±561
in-depth needs of the specialist in the ®eld. For geoscientists, the text is recommended for their reference use, being most valuable to geochemists working closely in reservoir characterisation and development.
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P.W.M. Corbett Department of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK E-mail address:
[email protected]
0264-8172/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 6 4 - 8 1 7 2 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 6 2 - 8
Abnormal Pressures in Hydrocarbon Environments B.E. Law, G.F. Ulmishek, V.I. Slavin, AAPG Memoir 70, 1998, 264 pp., ISBN 0-89181-350-0 This book is, to some extent, the proceedings of the AAPG Hedberg Conference entitled ``Abnormal Pressures in Hydrocarbon Environments'' convened 8±10 June, 1994, in Golden, Colorado. This is a compilation of 14 selected papers organised into 14 chapters. In Chapter 1, Law and Spencer introduce the book. They emphasise that abnormal pressure means overpressure (greater than normal hydrostatic pressure) or underpressure (lower than normal hydrostatic pressure). Three papers (Swarbrick and Osborne, Chap. 2; Burrus, Chap. 3; Slavin and Smirnova, Chap. 6) are rather theoretical on the mechanisms that generate abnormal pressures. Swarbrick and Osborne present a relatively complete bibliographical study on the mechanisms that generate abnormal pressures. Burrus shows how basin modelling dynamically assesses the problem of abnormal pressure generation by coupling dierent physical processes which control the pore pressure. Slavin and Smirnova propose static methods to estimate the overpressure from present day data. Some papers show, based on case studies, the limitations of the classical idea about abnormal pressures. Hermanrud et al. (Chap. 4) show the limitations, for the Haltenbanken area, of the classical eective stress approach used for estimation methods or basin modelling tools. Hunt et al. (Chap. 5) propose a two stage process for shale compaction and suggest that overpressures in the Gulf Coast are mainly due to hydrocarbon generation. The other papers are speci®c worldwide case studies
which describe the habitat of the abnormal pressures. Belonin and Slavin (Chap. 7) review the relationships between overpressure and hydrocarbon production from C.I.S. Holm (Chap. 8) gives a synthesis of the distribution and origin of the overpressures in the Central Grabin of the North Sea and concludes that hydrocarbon generation is the principal cause of the overpressure in the pre-Cretaceous formations. Carlin and Dainelli (Chap. 9) overview the pressure regimes and systems in the Adriatic foredeep. Nashaat (Chap. 10) and Polutranko (Chap. 11) present studies of the overpressures and their relation to hydrocarbon accumulations in, respectively, the Nile Delta and in petroleum basins of the Ukraine. Wilson et al. (Chap. 12) discuss the origins of three overpressured zones encountered in a deep wildcat well drilled in the Southern Piceance Basin. Heppart et al. (Chap. 13) show how the overpressure gradient may control the seal eciency of shaly layers and of faults in oshore Eastern Trinidad. Law et al. (Chap. 14) conclude this book with a review of the drilling problems encountered in the Potwar Plateau (Pakistan) due to the unpredictable abnormally high formation pressures. This book is not, as speci®ed in the Preface, an exhaustive overview of the causes and occurrence of the abnormal pressures. This is much more a compilation of papers of interest, that could have been better organised, that deals with these topics. And, as mentioned in the Preface, ``there remains much work to be done''.
0264-8172/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 6 4 - 8 1 7 2 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 5 9 - 8
FreÂdeÂric J.S. Schneider Institut Franc° ais du PeÂtrole, Rueil-Malmaison, France
