Casing Leaks
Oilfield and other industry production and service well applications. Note that this does not apply to injection wells because regulatory approvals have not been obtained.
With time drilled wellbores with steel casing strings can develop leaks due to internal/ external corrosion or internal mechanical wear. Once that leak occurs fluids, mostly water, can enter the wellbore and cause increased corrosion of the casing and tubing OR it can flood out the existing lower productive zone.
SPI gels have no solids and can therefore penetrate through even small holes in the steel and formation to set and form a solid sealing block of gel in the rock adjacent to the leak. In the mid-2000s an OCAST project allowed field testing of the earlier SPI technology in almost 20 wells. A 50% success rate was seen with that older technology. Our current internal initiator technology has improved where that success rate would be much higher today.
It is estimated that this sealing capability should be good down to 5000 feet of depth with normal temperature gradients.