For successful underwater electromagnetic (EM) wave operation, knowledge is required of the wave propagation properties of seawater overall distances both short and long. This paper presents a novel application of EM wave propagation through seawater, in the field of nano-EOR by manipulating the nanoparticle characteristics under EM waves. For this purpose, a solenoid-based 167 MHz transmitter is designed, simulated, and fabricated in the laboratory and has been studied in two steps under air, tap water, and salt water as a transmission medium. Firstly, a laboratory-scale model was simulated by using computer simulation technology (CST) to test the designed solenoid under different background media, whereas in second step, these simulation results were validated experimentally using a scale tank with a scale factor of 4360. It is noted that the solenoid has been best to propagate at an optimum applied voltage of 1.5 V in salt water. The comparative results at 1.5 V show that the magnitude of the EM waves was found to deviate up to 8.23 in salt water, while it deviates by 21.3 and 44.3 for tap water and air, respectively. This proved its suitability to employ in underwater EOR application. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.