Interpretation special section call for papers

Pore-pressure prediction and detection

Knowledge of pore pressure informs both tactical and strategic aspects of the exploration process. Tactically, predrill prediction of pore pressure allows for more effective, less expensive drilling operations, and real-time detection of pore pressure allows for safer well management. Strategically, the value of pore pressure lies in the ability to predict reasonable ranges of column heights and to infer likely hydrocarbon seals. Increasingly, pore-pressure estimates are high-visibility efforts which require the latest and greatest in multidisciplinary interpretative tools.

The editors of Interpretation invite papers on the topic "Pore-pressure prediction and detection" for publication in the February 2014 special section or supplement. Contributions are invited on interpretation across the broad spectrum of "pore-pressure-applicable geosciences" – geology, geophysics, geomechanics, clay mineralogy, sequence stratigraphy, petrophysics, core analysis, geochemistry, real-time wellbore and drilling monitoring, etc. – as these are applied in the analysis of overpressure for informing drilling practices and hydrocarbon seal analysis:

  1. case histories of challenging well pore-pressure interpretations, and what was learned
  2. best practices for predrill-pressure prediction
  3. impact of predrill- and postdrill-pressure prediction/detection on recognition of regional or local hydrocarbon seals
  4. new approaches for quantitative pressure prediction, either from novel input (e.g., acoustic impedance, VS, VC, VP/VS, seismic or resistivity anisotropy parameters, etc.) or new transforms or processing (e.g., attributes, inversions, etc.)

Interested authors should submit their manuscripts for review no later than 30 June 2013. In addition, the special section/supplement editors would like to receive a provisional title and list of authors as soon as possible. Authors should submit via the normal online submission system for Interpretation (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/interpretation) and select this topic in the manuscript type dropdown option. The submitted papers will be subject to the regular peer-review process, and the contributing authors are also expected to participate in the review process as reviewers.


We will work according to the following timeline:

Submission deadline: 30 June 2013
Peer review complete: 26 October 2013
All files submitted for production: 9 November 2013
Publication of issue: February 2014


Special section editors:

Dan Ebrom daeb@statoil.com
Philip Heppard philip.d.heppard@conocophillips.com
Martin Albertin Martin.Albertin@bp.com
Richard Swarbrick rswarbrick@ikonscience.com

Interpretation, copublished by SEG and AAPG, aims to advance the practice of subsurface interpretation.