Proven in the US Permian Basin since the 1970s. Applicable to India's mature oil fields.
CO₂-Enhanced Oil Recovery (CO₂-EOR) involves injecting captured CO₂ into depleting oil reservoirs at or above minimum miscibility pressure. When CO₂ mixes with the residual oil in the reservoir, it reduces the oil viscosity and swells the oil volume, enabling recovery of oil that could not be extracted by conventional water injection. The CO₂ that is produced along with the oil is separated, re-compressed, and re-injected — creating a closed loop where typically 50–67% of the injected CO₂ is permanently retained in the reservoir and the remainder is recycled.
CO₂-EOR has been practised commercially in the United States since the 1970s — the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico hosts more than 130 CO₂-EOR projects, using approximately 70 MT of CO₂ per year. The technology is therefore at TRL 9 for the enhanced recovery application. The "CCS" component — deliberately injecting additional CO₂ beyond what is needed for EOR, for the purpose of permanent storage — has been demonstrated at the Boundary Dam and Weyburn-Midale projects in Canada.
For India, CO₂-EOR creates a unique economic opportunity: the oil revenue from enhanced recovery can offset a significant portion of the CCUS capital and operating cost, improving project economics substantially compared to storage-only CCUS. ONGC, which operates the majority of India's mature onshore oil fields, has studied CO₂-EOR at Ankleshwar (Gujarat), Gandhar (Gujarat), and Mangala (Rajasthan) — and NCM is working with ONGC to develop the first fully integrated CO₂-EOR + CCS project in India.
India's oil production has been in decline since the peak of the Mumbai High field in the 1980s. ONGC's mature fields in Gujarat (Ankleshwar, Gandhar, Mehsana), Rajasthan (Mangala, operated by Cairn/Vedanta), and offshore (Mumbai High, Neelam-Heera) collectively represent billions of barrels of residual oil in place that could be mobilised by CO₂-EOR. Conservative estimates suggest that CO₂-EOR could add 0.5–1.0 billion barrels of incremental oil recovery from India's mature fields over a 20–30 year programme.
The economics of CO₂-EOR in India are complex but potentially compelling. The oil price above which CO₂-EOR becomes economic depends on the cost of CO₂ supply, injection operations, and incremental production costs. With CO₂ supplied from a nearby industrial source — such as a captive power plant or chemical complex — at USD 30–50 per tonne, and oil prices above USD 60–70 per barrel, miscible CO₂-EOR in India's better sandstone reservoirs generates a positive return even before carbon credit value is included.
NCM's CO₂-EOR advisory integrates three disciplines: reservoir engineering (EOR screening, simulation, and production forecast), CO₂ supply chain (industrial CO₂ source identification, capture, compression, and pipeline transport), and commercial structuring (CO₂ supply agreement, EOR production sharing, storage credit monetisation). This integrated approach is essential because CO₂-EOR projects fail when these three elements are designed independently rather than as an integrated system.
CO₂ used annually in US Permian Basin EOR — the global benchmark for CO₂-EOR at scale
Estimated incremental recoverable oil from India's mature fields with CO₂-EOR programmes
CO₂ retained permanently in reservoir in CO₂-EOR operations — rest is recycled
Technology readiness — CO₂-EOR has been commercial practice for 50+ years
NCM has conducted preliminary EOR screening assessments for each of India's major mature field clusters.
ONGC's Gujarat onshore fields are among India's best CO₂-EOR candidates — sandstone reservoirs, significant residual oil saturation, and proximity to industrial CO₂ sources at GSPC, ONGC Hazira, and GNFC. NCM has conducted a preliminary CO₂-EOR screening study for the Ankleshwar-Gandhar corridor.
Cairn/Vedanta's Rajasthan fields — India's largest onshore oil producers — have been studied for CO₂-EOR feasibility. The challenge is CO₂ supply in a remote inland location; the opportunity is significant residual oil and proximity to potential Rajasthan saline aquifer storage formations.
ONGC's Mumbai High is a carbonate reservoir where CO₂-EOR follows different mechanisms than sandstone fields. NCM has reviewed international carbonate EOR data for Mumbai High applicability and is assessing whether a CO₂-EOR pilot could be structured alongside offshore CO₂ storage development in the Western Indian basin.
NCM's CO₂-EOR advisory is structured around the three critical integration challenges: CO₂ source-to-field logistics, reservoir performance modelling, and commercial and regulatory structuring. The CO₂ source evaluation identifies the most cost-effective industrial emitters within pipeline distance of the target field, assesses their capture feasibility, and models the CO₂ supply volume and purity profile over the project lifetime.
The reservoir assessment uses compositional reservoir simulation to model CO₂-oil miscibility, predict incremental oil recovery, forecast CO₂ retention rates, and design the WAG injection programme. For India's sandstone reservoirs in Gujarat and Rajasthan, NCM calibrates simulation models against international CO₂-EOR performance data from the Permian Basin and the Weyburn project in Canada.
The commercial structure for CO₂-EOR in India requires navigating the interaction between ONGC's production sharing contracts, DGH storage licensing, CBAM carbon accounting, and India Carbon Market credit generation. NCM's regulatory team works alongside the reservoir and finance teams to ensure that the commercial framework maximises revenue from both oil production and carbon credit monetisation — making Indian CO₂-EOR projects more bankable than any single-revenue-stream alternative.
Whether you are a government body seeking policy advice, an industrial company facing CBAM exposure, or an investor seeking CCUS project opportunities — our team is ready to engage.