Proceedings of the 11th SEGJ International Symposium, 2013
Seismic rock physics of the South Sumatra basin coal, Indonesia
Yuda Faisal Yushendri(1), Artini Sukotjo(1), Rusalida Raguwanti(1), Djedi Setyo Widarto(1) and
Bagus Endar B. Nurhandoko(2)
(1)
Upstream Technology Center, PT. Pertamina (Persero), Indonesia (yuda.yushendri@pertamina.com), (2) Institut
Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia.
ABSTRACT
We have collected some coal samples in different ranks
from Muara Enim, South Sumatra Basin, Indonesia.
Laboratory ultrasonic velocity measurements of gas
and brine saturated coals samples in different rank
present that dynamic elastic properties of coal depend
on coal rank, overburden pressure and pore pressure. In
this paper, we investigate the relationships between
coal rank and pressure with dynamic elastic properties
of coals. We also present the effect of various coal rank
and pore pressure to the AVO response.
Coal elastic properties are strongly affected by
pressure. Coal velocities increases as overburden
pressure increases, while velocities decreases as pore
pressure increases. The increasing in pore pressure
causes the increasing in AVO intercepts and gradients,
while the increasing of coal rank tends to decrease
AVO intercept and gradients.
We determine the sensitivity of elastic properties
to the variations of pore fluid for all coal samples. P-
impedance, S-impedance, and MuRho are good fluid
discriminator for lignite, bituminuous and anthracite
coal samples whereas they can be used as lithology
discriminator for all coal samples. Another Lam
parameter, LambdaRho, is only sensitive to
discriminate fluid in lignite and bituminuous coal
samples. Poissons Ratio and VP/VS Ratio are only
capable to separate the pore fluid in lignite coal
sample.
The AVO modeling example offered in this paper
shows that AVO may be used as an aid for pressure
delineation in the CBM reservoirs, to delineate the
area with high fracture density or high pore pressure.
KEY WORDS: CBM, elastic properties, coal rank,
pressure, AVO response, South Sumatera Basin
INTRODUCTION
Coal is a carbonaceous rock formed from the remains
of plants that lived and died million years ago by
diagenesis process. The chemical and physical
structure of coal changes as the pressure and
temperature increases through time. The coal rank is
depend on the degree of maturation during the coal
diagenesis. The coal rank are classified into lignite,
sub-bituminous, bituminous, semianthracite, and
anthracite; the latter has the highest rank than the
former. During the rock formation, methane gas are
generated from organic matter and stored within the
coal.
In recent decades, methane stored in coal beds has
become an important source of energy in some
countries, with a great potential for future
development. Previous authors have conducted study
of elastic properties of coal. Yu et al. (1993) presented
the increasing in acoustic velocities in dry and water
saturated coal samples as confining pressure increased
from 2 to 40 MPa. Yao and Han (2008) analized the
effects of pressure, temperature, and saturation on
ultrasonic velocities in coal samples. Morcote et al.
(2010) observed ultrasonic velocities increases as the
confining pressure increased from 0 to 40 MPa. Dry
bulk and dry shear moduli increase with increasing
coal rank whereas the VP/VS ratio decreases with
increasing coal rank. Dirgantara et al. (2011) have
measured seven coal samples and reported that
compressional and shear wave velocities increase as
coal rank increases.
AVO is a tool to detect the presence of
hydrocarbon for gas-sand reservoir. The Poissons ratio
contrast at shale/sand interface will cause the variation
of amplitude with offset. Poissons ratio contrast at a
shale/gas-sands interface is caused by gas saturation,
while in the coal seam it caused by the density increase
of the cleats and fractures (Gregory, 1976). Thus, AVO
is not a direct method to detect the presence of CBM in
coal seams. However, AVO still can be used in CBM
reservoir characterization to delineate methane rich
sweet spots within coal seams (Peng, et. al., 2006).
This paper presents the rock physics analysis of coal
samples from Muara Enim, Indonesia, with different
coal ranks, to study the effect of pore pressure,
overburden pressure and fluid saturation in seismic
elastic properties and AVO responses.
METHODOLOGY
Seismic rock physics measurement of coal core
samples were done in the laboratory. There are four
different coal samples measured in different coal rank
as summarized in Table 1. The samples were collected
from surface outcrop. The objective of this physical
modeling is to find the relationship between seismic
elastic properties and the reservoir parameters.
 Proceedings of the 11th SEGJ International Symposium, 2013

Table 1. Summary of the core samples of coal used in The coal samples used in this experiment are, in
this study. increasing order of rank, bituminous, semianthracite,
and anthracite. From measured data, we observed that
VP and VS increase as coal rank increases (Figure 1 and
Sample Lithology Density (g/cc) Porosity (%) Figure 2). Lignite coal has the lowest velocities
ME-32 Lignite 0.99 13.67 compared to bituminuous, semi-anthracite and
anthracite coal. Anthracite coal, which has the highest
K-13 Bituminous 1.19 10.22
coal rank, exhibits the highest velocities among the
SM-ANT Semi-anthracite 1.31 5.49 other coal samples.
ANT Anthracite 1.37 6.82 Lignite coal and bituminuous coal velocities
difference is relatively small. Figure 1 and Figure 2
Ultrasonic Velocity Measurement plots that lignite coal and bituminuous coal velocities
can be characterized in a cluster due to small velocity
The P-wave (VP) and S-wave (VS) velocities were differences. In addition, semianthracite and anthracite
measured in various overburden pressure, pore velocities exhibits the same behaviour, the velocities
pressure, and temperature under gas (methane) difference of both coal rank is relatively small. Thus,
saturated and brine saturated condition. The their velocities can also be characterized in a cluster.
overburden pressure varied from 1-5.5 MPa and the Overall, the velocities increase as coal rank increases.
pore pressure range from 0.5 - 4.3 MPa.
Velocities were obtained by picking the first
signal arrival time. The VP value was picked from the
first signal arrival, and VS value was picked from the
first positive peak of the shear signal. Another elastic
parameters are derived by combining the velocity and
density change such as Acoustic Impedance (AI), Shear
Impedance (SI), Lambda, Mu, LambdaRho (LR),
MuRho (MR), Poissons Ratio (PR) and VP/VS Ratio.
The elastic parameters are crossplotted each other
to evaluate the saturation effect on the elastic
properties and to find the potential seismic method for
CBM reservoir characterization in Muara Enim.

AVO Modeling

AVO modeling for the coals samples in various pore
pressure was performed using bituminuous coal
sample. The objective of AVO modeling is to analize
the effect of pore pressure and fluid saturation to the
AVO response. In addition, AVO modeling was
performed for all coal samples in the same reservoir
condition (pore pressure and overburden pressure).
Figure 1. Variations of compressional (solid lines) and
shear (dashed lines) wave velocities with overburden
pressure for different coal ranks under brine saturated
(blue) and gas saturated (red). Note that velocities
increases as the coal rank increases.

RESULTS

Pressure Effect

We observed that VP and VS increases with the

increasing overburden pressure. Overburden pressure
affect the change of velocities both for gas saturated
and brine satureted samples. Figure 1 shows the effect
of overburden pressure on velocities. Pressure
dependence of velocities on overburden pressure is
greater at pressures below 5 MPa. At higher pressures
(above 5 MPa), velocities increase slightly.
Figure 2 shows the effect of pore pressure on
velocities. In contrast with overburden effect, Figure 2. Variations of compressional (solid lines) and
increasing pore pressure tends to decrease velocities shear (dashed lines) wave velocities with pore pressure
both for gas saturated and brine satureted samples. for different coal ranks under brine saturated (blue) and
 Proceedings of the 11th SEGJ International Symposium, 2013
gas saturated (red). Note that velocities decreases as
the coal rank increases.
Figure 3 plots the pore pressure effect on AVO
intercepts. We observed that absolute AVO intercepts
increases as the pore pressure increases for gas and
brine saturated bituminuous coal sample. As the
increasing of pore pressure, the velocities of coal
sample decreases. Furthermore, increase in the pore
pressure exhibits the increasing in VP/VS ratio, which
also increases the PR. Figure 4 shows the AVO
crossplots of pore pressure variations in bituminuous
coal sample. The AVO gradients increases as the pore
pressure increases. In general, the increasing in pore
pressure induces the increasing in AVO intercepts
(absolute value) and the increasing in AVO gradients.
Figure 3. Amplitude variation with incident angle of
bituminuous coal sample for various pore pressure
under gas saturated and brine saturated condition.
Figure 4. AVO crossplot of bituminuous coal sample
for various pore pressure under gas saturated and brine
saturated condition. Note that AVO intercepts and
AVO gradients increase as the pore pressure increases.
Figure 5 shows the amplitude variations with
incident angle for different coal rank under gas
saturated condition. Same pore pressure (0.5 MPa) and
overburden pressure (2 MPa) were used for all coal
samples data used. Velocities increases as the coal rank
increases. However, we found that VP/VS ratio
decreases with increasing coal rank. This results is
similar to the work of Morcote et al. (2010). Therefore,
AVO intercept value (negative numbers) and AVO
gradient decreases as the coal rank increases.
According to Gregory (1976), the presence of
fractures in the rock should cause an observable
increase in the VP/VS ratio and Poissons ratio. So it is
reasonable to infer that the factor that increases
Poissons ratio contrasts at coalbed interfaces is the
density increase of the cleats and fractures within the
coal seam. Thus, our experiment results may leads to
an early application of AVO in CBM reservoir
characterization in Muara Enim. AVO may be used as
an aid for pressure delineation in the CBM reservoirs,
to characterize the area with high cleat / fracture
density or high pore pressure.
Figure 5. Amplitude variation with incident angle for
different coal rank under gas saturated condition. Note
that AVO intercept and AVO gradient decrease as the
coal rank increases.
Figure 6. Cross-plot of the P-wave and S-wave
velocities of brine saturated and gas saturated coal
samples. VP and VS increase as coal rank increases.
 Proceedings of the 11th SEGJ International Symposium, 2013

Saturation Effect

In order to determine the sensitivity of elastic

properties to variations of pore fluid for all coal
samples, we applied the cross-plot analysis of elastic
parameters derived from the ultrasonic velocity
measurements. Figure 6 Figure 11 shows the cross-
plot analysis of all elastic parameters for all coal
samples with different coal rank, under brine and gas
saturation. As described earlier, VP and VS increase as
coal rank increases (Figure 6). We observed that P-
impedance, S-impedance, and MuRho are good fluid
discriminator for lignite, bituminuous and anthracite
coal samples (Figure 7 and Figure 9). Another Lam
parameter, LambdaRho, is only sensitive to
discriminate fluid in lignite and bituminuous coal
samples (Figure 9). Poissons Ratio and VP/VS Ratio
are only capable to separate the pore fluid in lignite
coal sample (Figure 10 and Figure 11). In addition, P- Figure 8. Cross-plot of Lambda and Mu of brine
impedance, S-impedance, and MuRho provide the clear saturated and gas saturated coal samples.
differentiation of coal lithology and can be used for as
lithology discriminator (Figure 7 and Figure 9).

Figure 9. Cross-plot of LambdaRho and MuRho of

Figure 7. Cross-plot of P-impedance and S-impedance
of brine saturated and gas saturated coal samples. P-
impedance, S-impedance are good fluid discriminator
for lignite, bituminuous and anthracite coal samples.
brine saturated and gas saturated coal samples. MuRho
is good fluid discriminator for lignite, bituminuous and
anthracite coal samples, as well as good lithology
discriminator for all coal samples.
 Proceedings of the 11th SEGJ International Symposium, 2013
Figure 10. Cross-plot of P-impedance and Poissons
Ratio of brine saturated and gas saturated coal samples.
Poissons Ratio is only capable to separate the pore
fluid in lignite coal sample.
Figure 11. Cross-plot of P-impedance and VP/VS Ratio
of brine saturated and gas saturated coal samples. VP/VS
Ratio is only capable to separate the pore fluid in
lignite coal sample.
CONCLUSIONS
Coal ranks has a strong influence on dynamic
elastic properties of coal. The ultrasonic measurement
of coal samples in different coal ranks from Muara
Enim, South Sumatra Basin, reveals that velocities
increase as coal rank increases. AVO intercept and
gradient decreases as the coal rank increases.
Coal elastic properties are affected by pressure.
Coal velocities increases as overburden pressure
increases, while velocities decreases as pore pressure
increases. The increasing of pore pressure reflects in
the increasing of AVO intercepts and gradients.
Furthermore, AVO may be used as an aid for pressure
delineation in the CBM reservoirs, to delineate the
area with high cleat/fracture density or high pore
pressure.
P-impedance, S-impedance, and MuRho are good
fluid discriminator for lignite, bituminuous and
anthracite coal samples whileas they can be used as
lithology discriminator for all coal samples. Another
Lam parameter, LambdaRho, is only sensitive to
discriminate fluid in lignite and bituminuous coal
samples. Poissons Ratio and VP/VS Ratio are only
capable to separate the pore fluid in lignite coal
sample.
FUTURE WORKS
We realize that our research is performed using coal
samples from surface outcrop. Thus, we plan to extend
our laboratory work using core samples obtained from
well bore. Data integration of other data such as well
log and seismic data is needed to delineate sweet
spots within the coal seams for CBM reservoir
characterization in Muara Enim area.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work leading to this paper was the part of
collaborative research between Pertamina and Bandung
Institut of Technology (ITB) for non renewable energy
exploration. The author gratefully acknowledge the
assistance of PT. Bukit Asam Muara Enim Tambang
Airlaya and Rock Fluid Imaging to support us the coal
core samples for this study.
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