Review of Recovery Mechanisms of lonically Modified Waterflood in Carbonate Reservoirs

Advanced waterflooding is a process in which the ionic strength as well as the ionic composition of the injected water is tuned to improve the oil recovery. It has been observed in field trials and in lab coreflooding experiments; advanced waterflooding has the potential to recover additional oil. This process has been evaluated as a wettability-modifying agent in carbonates and captured the global research focus in water-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the published research to speed the process of further investigations in this field. The review provides the most current information to the reader about advanced waterflooding and a guide to the relevant papers for those who are new in this field.