Abstract

Knowledge of formation pore pressure is not only essential for safe and cost-effective drilling of wells, but is also critical for assessing exploration risk factors including the migration of formation fluids and seal integrity. Usually, pre-drill estimates of pore pressure are derived from surface seismic data by first estimating seismic velocities and then utilizing velocity-to-effective stress transforms appropriate for a given area combined with an estimated overburden stress to obtain pore pressure. So, the accuracy of velocity models used for pore pressure determination is of paramount importance.