Аннотация:Abstract The advantages of using the low salinity water injection (LSWI) technique to improve oil recovery in carbonates have been reported in the literature; however, the mechanism behind it is still uncertain. In this paper, a geochemical/thermodynamic interpretation of the mechanism controlling oil recovery in carbonates by LSWI is proposed based on a recently published experimental study. The geochemical modeling was performed using two geochemical simulators (UTCHEM and PHREEQC). For the carbonate case considered in this paper, it was found that the wettability alteration was caused mainly by changing the surface charge of the rock rather than by dissolution. The findings cannot be generalized as the LSWI technique is case dependent.
