America's Old Oil Fields Are Back in Business

The US enhanced oil recovery market is forecast to nearly double by 2035, driven by mature reservoir decline and expanding CO₂ EOR adoption

28 May 2026

Pressure is building beneath America's aging oil country. Declining reservoir pressure in maturing US fields is pushing operators toward tertiary recovery techniques, and investment is catching up fast. Valued at USD 15.5 billion in 2025, the US enhanced oil recovery market is forecast to reach USD 28.29 billion by 2035, growing at a 6.20% CAGR, according to a May 2026 SNS Insider report.

North America holds roughly 38% of global EOR activity, a position built on decades of infrastructure and a field inventory skewed toward assets where conventional extraction has run its course. Thermal methods lead at 45% of US market share in 2025, favored in heavy crude reservoirs where viscosity, not access, is the core constraint.

CO₂ injection is the sector's fastest-growing method. Expanding carbon capture infrastructure and federal carbon management incentives have improved project economics nationwide, with the Permian Basin, long the historic center of US CO₂ EOR operations, at the heart of that activity.

Mature and depleted reservoirs are also the market's fastest-growing asset subsegment. Rather than chase costly greenfield exploration, operators are re-engineering fields they already own. Schlumberger scaled CO₂ injection and thermal recovery across North American mature oilfields in 2025; Halliburton ran polymer flooding deployments in maturing assets the same year. Digital tools are sharpening both programs, with real-time reservoir analytics and advanced modelling allowing injection parameters to be adjusted with precision, cutting lifting costs without new drilling.

The risks are real. EOR economics remain sensitive to oil price swings, and CO₂ pipeline infrastructure demands substantial upfront capital.

Yet with recovery technology costs falling and CO₂ supply growing, the trajectory toward a market doubling by 2035 reflects something more durable than a cyclical uptick. America's legacy reservoirs are being reframed, not as liabilities to manage, but as recovery opportunities to engineer.