Soran Mahmoodpour - Petroleum University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Low salinity water/smart water injection (LSW/SWF) is an emerging and effective enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique because of its recovery performance, low cost, and environmentally friendly compared to other EOR approaches. In Low salinity water/smart water injection (LSW/SWF), the chemistry of injected water is improved whether by lowering water salinity or by modifying ions concentrations. The effectiveness the applicability of Low salinity water/smart water injection (LSW/SWF) on improved oil recovery at reservoir-scale was not completely understood. Thus, the main objective of this article is developing a geochemical model to model LSW/SWF at reservoir-scale and then comparing the effect of low salinity against high salinity water flooding. First, the importance of LSW/SWF was discussed; Then the paper progresses by briefly explanation of Low-Salinity Mechanisms in Carbonate reservoirs as the main type of Iranian reservoirs. After that, a geochemical model including a number of chemical reactions at crude oil-brine-rock system, was developed using the geochemical module of CMG-GEM reservoir simulator to model LSW/SWF in carbonate reservoirs. Finally, the LSW/SWF was modeled in a candidate Iranian carbonate oil reservoir. The simulation results show that the LSWF can enhance the oil recovery in the under study reservoir.

low salinity water flooding, sulfate adsorption, wettability alteration, geochemical reactions, multi-component ionic exchange