The recovery of heavy crude oil presents a difficult challenge in the petroleum industry due to its high viscosity and poor flow characteristics. This work evaluated the performance of locally-formulated alkaline in reducing the viscosity of heavy crude, thus facilitating its extraction. A sufficient amount of sawdust was gathered and burnt and the ash recovered. The recovered sawdust ash (SDA) was dissolved in water to formulate the alkaline solution. An enhanced oil recovery experiment was conducted using the locally formulated alkaline and carbon dioxide as the driving gas. The setup involved CO2 cylinder connected to a 10-litre tank, functioning as a reservoir for crude oil. The experimental results provided valuable insights into the feasibility of employing locally-based alkaline flooding for heavy crude recovery. The viscosity of the crude oil was evaluated as the volume of the alkaline solution (SDA) and NaOH were increased. Increase in the volume of both SDA and NaOH applied to the crude oil resulted to a consistent and effective reduction in viscosity of the heavy crude, lowering the viscosity from 0.69cst at 0ml to 0.36cst for sawdust and 0.340cst for NaOH at 25ml. While the scope is limited to laboratory experiment, the findings have the potential to inform and improve field applications in heavy crude reservoirs, offering a sustainable and cost-efficient approach to enhanced oil recovery. This research contributes to the knowledge base on heavy crude oil recovery methods, emphasizing the practical application of locally-available resources for enhanced oil production while minimizing the negative environmental impact.