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Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is oil recovery by the injection of materials not normally present in petroleum reservoirs. This definition covers all modes of oil-recovery processes (drive, push-pull, and well treatments) and most oil-recovery agents. EOR technologies are also being used for in-situ extraction of organic pollutants from permeable media. In these applications, the extraction is referred to as cleanup or remediation and the pollutant as product. Aspects of these technologies also apply to carbon dioxide (CO2) storage.

The definition does not restrict EOR to a particular phase (primary, secondary, or tertiary) in the producing life of a reservoir. Primary recovery is oil recovery by natural drive mechanisms: solution gas, water influx, gas-cap drive, or gravity drainage, as illustrated in Fig. 1.1. Secondary recovery refers to techniques, such as gas or water injection, that have the main purpose of boosting or maintaining reservoir pressure. Tertiary recovery is any technique applied after secondary recovery. Nearly all EOR processes have been at least field tested as secondary displacements. Many thermal methods are commercial in both primary and secondary modes. Much interest has been focused on tertiary EOR, but our definition does not impose any such restriction.

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