A method is provided for estimating the amount of supercharging in a
formation penetrated by a wellbore. According to the method, pressure
fluctuation measurements are obtained at a position in the formation
accessible from the well bore and at an adjacent position in the
wellbore, and a model is provided which relates variations in pressure
with time at these positions to one or more adjustable parameters from
which the amount of supercharging can be estimated. The or each parameter
is then adjusted to optimize the fit between the pressure variations
predicted by the model and the measured pressure fluctuations, and the
amount of supercharging is estimated from the adjusted parameter(s).