A North Sea operator completed an injector well with a 7-in liner. After cementing the liner and setting the third-party liner hanger and packer, a leak to the formation was found near the hanger and packer.
The contingency plan called for running a scab liner and packer, but it did not repair the leak. Barring a better solution, the only option would have been to drill a sidetrack—a costly and extremely challenging operation.
Removing the leaking liner hanger, packer, and a section of the liner and replacing them with an appropriately spaced out Casing Reconnect™ metal-to-metal, gas-tight casing repair system and a new liner hanger system would eliminate the leak and restore liner integrity without a reduction in ID.
The operator recovered the scab liner and original liner hanger system, cut off the liner one full joint inside the 9⅝-in shoe, and dressed the top of the liner stump to remove metal swarf and debris. A new liner hanger and packer were run into the well with a Casing Reconnect system receptacle at the bottom, which was positioned over the dressed liner stump. Next, the morphing tool was run into the top of the liner at the depth of the Casing Reconnect system. Pressure applied at surface was multiplied through the tool to expand the liner into the Casing Reconnect system receptacle, creating a metal-to-metal, gas-tight connection with no reduction in liner ID.
After the tool was pulled out of the well, the connection was tested to 195 bar. The successful test met operator requirements and enabled completing the well and bringing it online.
