CASE STUDY:
Punch & Inject Tool Restores Zonal Isolation to Keep Well Online
Pressure cycling over three years degraded a previous sound bond inside a gas storage well. Renegade deployed the Punch & Inject Tool to deliver resin into micro-annular channels where conventional methods couldn’t reach, keeping the well in service.
CONDITION:
A vertical gas storage well with a production string inside intermediate casing had been operating under routine injection and withdrawal cycles for decades. A three-year-old bond log showed static cement in place, but a recent isolation log (July 2025) showed induced micro-annular channels.
Gas storage wells are held to strict federal regulations (API 1170/1171) requiring demonstrable zonal isolation barriers under static conditions. At the current state, the well did not satisfy those requirements.
» Pre-injection USIT logs showed a compromised interval where gas migration had created a loss of zonal isolation.
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:
Gas was migrating between the production string and intermediate casing at depths between 2,500 and 2,700 ft. Bond log evaluation confirmed the location and extent of the channel.
The tight annular environment and shallow depth prevented the conventional course of remediation using a squeeze tool. Rig-based alternatives would have required extended delays and cost.
SOLUTION & RESULTS:
Renegade was able to mitigate the issue within two days on location using 10 punches and four precise resin injections to close the channel and stop the migration. The tool was deployed using crane-assisted e-line without a rig, explosives or a cement truck.
Injections were delivered at depths between 2,500 and 2,700 ft. Bond log runs between injections showed the rising top of the resin, confirming upward fill through the interval. Final CBL evaluations confirmed resin topping out at 2,454 ft, achieving full zonal isolation across the treated zone.
After the required cure-time, the well was reopened and confirmed, no gas or flow present at the surface. The remediation was successful, allowing for plug and abandonment work to continue.
» After targeted resin placement, the post-injection bond response showed improved fill through the damaged channel. Follow-up isolation scans at 0 psi and 2,000 psi confirmed the repaired interval held under pressure, demonstrating restored isolation and allowing the well to remain in service.
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:
Subsequent isolation scans showed micro-annular channels between the production string and intermediate casing across approximately 200 ft of the target interval. The differential movement of the steel casing, which has elastic memory, against the cement, which does not, creates these micro-annular channels.
SOLUTION & RESULTS:
Renegade deployed the Punch and Inject Tool via crane-assisted e-line without a rig, explosives, or cement. The operation was fully self-contained. Two injections across four punch points delivered less than four gallons of resin directly into the tight micro-annular channels at approximately 10,000 ft. and 9,000 ft.
Between each injection, bond log runs tracked the rising level of resin and confirmed progressive fill upward through the treated zones.