FACT SHEET AND ANALYSIS

The document analyzes the life cycle emissions of CO2-EOR, citing IEA data to show that using anthropogenic CO2 for oil recovery results in a net emissions reduction of 63% per barrel produced. It argues that EOR is a critical market-based driver for CCUS technology and that the oil targeted for EOR would likely be produced via other, more carbon-intensive methods if CO2-EOR is not used.

• According to IEA analysis, CCUS-EOR using industrial CO2 can achieve a net reduction in CO2 emissions of 63% for every barrel of oil produced.
• The IEA identifies a global potential to store 140 billion tons of CO2 in oil reservoirs through CO2 EOR, which would result in a net emissions reduction of 88 billion tons of CO2.
• The net emissions benefit of CO2-EOR is calculated by comparing the stored CO2 against the emissions from production and consumption. While a barrel of EOR oil is slightly more energy-intensive to produce (0.54 metric tons of CO2) than a conventional barrel (0.51 metric tons), the storage of 0.30 metric tons of CO2 results in a net contribution of 0.24 metric tons to the atmosphere per barrel.
• Market effects influence the net benefit: the IEA estimates that for every 10 barrels produced via CO2 EOR, 8 barrels of existing oil are displaced and 2 barrels are additional, leading to an average net emissions reduction benefit of 0.19 metric tons of CO2 per EOR barrel.
• The net emission reduction benefit can vary from 47% to 150% depending on the carbon content of the oil being offset.

APA

Nagabhushan, D., & Waltzer, K. (n.d.). FACT SHEET AND ANALYSIS. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21093903/CATF_Factsheet_CO2_EOR_LifeCycleAnalysis.pdf

Chicago

Nagabhushan, Deepika, and Kurt Waltzer. FACT SHEET AND ANALYSIS. Clean Air Task Force, n.d. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21093903/CATF_Factsheet_CO2_EOR_LifeCycleAnalysis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nagabhushan |first1=Deepika |last2=Waltzer |first2=Kurt |title=FACT SHEET AND ANALYSIS |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21093903/CATF_Factsheet_CO2_EOR_LifeCycleAnalysis.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nagabhushanndfact, author = {Nagabhushan, Deepika and Waltzer, Kurt}, title = {{FACT SHEET AND ANALYSIS}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/21093903/CATF_Factsheet_CO2_EOR_LifeCycleAnalysis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }