Building resilience: Designing well testing equipment and procedures for powerful wells

Abstract

Testing geothermal production wells is a key step in the life cycle of a well asset. The owner of the well aims to quantify the value of the asset in terms of; MWe capacity, interaction with nearby wells and geochemistry during the well test.
Geothermal wells cost in the magnitude NZD$10M to drill. This large cost drives the asset owner to drill the highest producing well possible. In recent years in New Zealand wells have drilled with larger diameter completions and are producing massive outputs. Well testing equipment has had to keep up with the increased demands. This paper explains how Western Energy and our partner Thermochem haveinnovated equipment and procedures to handle powerful wells.