Measurement of multi-stage triaxial compression test and static elastic parameters of shale samples from the Talangakar formation for a feasibility study of shale gas in the South Palembang sub-basin, South Sumatra

Abstract

Shale gas is an unconventional gas source that has great potential to be developed and produced in the future. One area that has great potential in Indonesia is in the South Sumatra basin. For good hydrofracturing planning, we used samples from core rock specimens from field well B in the Talangakar formation at a depth of 2289 m with shale lithology located within the South Palembang sub-basin in the South Sumatra basin. We tested the sample by multi-stage triaxial (MST). MST is a compression test requiring only one rock specimen to be tested in three cycle stages with different confined pressures From this test, the curve of Stress-Strain, yield point, elastic zone and plastic zone is obtained. Then it can also be generated Mohr-Coulomb curve, elastic parameters, i.e: Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, etc. The results of this measurement are also useful for predicting the minimum horizontal stress which is very important in the design of hydraulic fracturing in shale gas.