Water–Rock Interaction Effects on Rock Properties and Formation Damage Mitigation: A Mechanistic Review and Perspective

Abstract Water–rock interaction (WRI) is an unavoidable issue throughout drilling, stimulation, production, and enhanced recovery of subsurface energy, critically affecting the efficiency and sustainability of subsurface energy development. Nevertheless, existing reviews address relatively individual mechanisms or macroscopic formation damage manifestations, lacking integrated linkages between microscale physicochemical processes and macroscale formation damage control. This review systematically consolidates the mechanistic foundations of WRI and its cascading effects on reservoir rock properties, with an emphasis on coupling physicochemical processes to petrophysical and geomechanical responses. WRI mechanisms are categorized into reactions, exchange and adsorption, and fines formation and attachment. This classification advances mechanistic understanding by tracing the pathways from microscale interactions to macroscopic rock thermal, mechanical, and permeability property alterations. These alterations originate from WRI-induced changes in mineral abundance, compositions, rock microstructure, and fluid–rock interfacial interactions. Three strategies for artificially controlling WRI to mitigate formation damage were proposed, namely, adjusting fluid chemical compositions, adding additives, and utilizing low-reactive fluids. Thermal–Hydraulic–Mechanical–Chemical (T–H–M–C) modeling is suggested for simulating WRI between various fluids and rocks. Considering fluid seepage within nanoscale pores and cracks, electrokinetic transport properties at fluid–rock interfaces are integrated with the coupling processes. Adding additives aims to promote WRI toward beneficial directions. Low-reactive fluids include gas, oil, and condensed CO2. Gas and oil are typically applied with surfactants. Condensed CO2, including liquid and supercritical CO2, is a promising low-reactive fluid for inhibiting WRI, enhancing subsurface energy recovery (enhanced CH4 recovery and geothermal heat extraction), and realizing carbon capture and utilization. For further research, machine learning should be introduced to predict WRI mechanisms prior to WRI-based formation damage, and to design WRI-controlling additives based on target functions. By establishing a mechanism-influence-control framework, this review provides guidance for future reservoir engineering toward improved production efficiency and sustainability.