Tau-1 will be of great help. These days everyone monitors downhole pressure (formation pressure) as part of the sensor package just above the bit assembly. So they have the best pressure information you can get - not estimated from seismic, but actually measured right next door. The low effective stress is just a way of saying that there isn’t much in the way of cementation or even grain contact because of the anomalously high fluid pressure. Knowing the pressure and having fine pressure control with the MPD should allow them to just push ahead instead of losing control. And that will prevent extra casing and the resultant loss of hole diameter. When you use synthetic mud and are losing it into the formation it is very expensive. Just being able to keep the mud weight right at the formation pressure will probably save enough to pay for the MPD. I don’t know much about mud systems. My recollection is that they use water based for the shallow section. I think they use salt saturated mud going through the salt. Most wells in the GoM that I had anything to do with mostly used synthetic mud to give better penetration rates.
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