Flow in the near-wellbore area is one of the most critical factors of the injection of water-based fluids into the reservoir for IOR/EOR, water disposal (injectivity), or the transport of hydrocarbons from the reservoir to the wellhead (productivity). Concerning well injectivity, our research covers the mechanisms of injectivity decline during produced water re-injection (PWRI) and ways to mitigate them. Regarding well productivity, we focus on two areas:

• better understanding of salt-precipitation in geologically complex reservoirs
• hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas tight and shale reservoirs.

Our approach involves multi-scale modeling from the pore-scale to the near-wellbore area and laboratory experiments include quantitative visualization of fluid flow, particle retention and fracturing with the aid of X-ray micro-CT scanning.