This paper describes testing procedures used by Phillips Petroleum Company at the Roosevelt KGRA prospect. herein are not all original or new ideas but represent a combination of elements chosen after an intensive review of the state of the art. Special acknowledgment should be given to Jerry Jones of Union Oil Company and Dick Bolton of the New Zealand Ministry of Works for their cooperation and advice.

During the spring of 1975, Phillips Petroleum engaged L.offland Brothers The equipment and techniques described to drill several geothermal exploration wells on the Roosevelt KGRA prospect in Beaver County, Utah. In May we encountered geothermal hot water in our KGRA 3-1 well. A three-hour flow from this well through an open pipe indicated flows in excess of 600,000 pounds per hour of fluid at wellhead pressures approaching 400 psig. The flow was measured using the technique described by Russell James for measuring flow discharging at the speed of sound to the atmosphere. Concern about the accuracy of this type of measurement (flow conditions are well outside the limits described by James) arid the prudence of continued testing with our crude testing facilities led us to seek a safer and more accurate means of flow testing the well.

After reviewing the technology available for measuring two-phase steam/ water flow, it was decided that the most accurate method would probably be to separate the steam and water phases and measure them separately. A survey of current practice revealed that the Bottom Outlet Cyclone was the most popular design in current use, and for that reason we chose to use it: for our geothermal testing. Conversations with Dick Bolton of the Ministry of Works and Development, New Zealand, led us to a paper by P. Bangma on the development and performance of a steam-water separator for use on geothermal bores. In it he detailed the development of the steam separator used at Wairakei which incorporates a spiral inlet (as opposed to a tangential inlet) to permit a substantial increase in inlet velocity without a corresponding increase in liquid carried over into the steam phase. led us to believe that the spiral entry would indeed permit 11s to nearly double the inlet v e l o city allowable in the conventional tangential design.

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