Oilmax Energy Founder Says Strong Potential Seen In Discovered Small Fields

Oilmax Energy Pvt. expects the discovered small fields tendered by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons to be the potential medium of growth in the coming years.

The oil and gas producer claims to have turned around two DSF assets—one in Assam and another in Gujarat—after it got possession of them. "We are very optimistic about turning around the DSF fields with our technological expertise, and we plan to bid and win these projects in the next DSF rounds," Founder Chairman and Managing Director Kapil Garg told BQ Prime in an interview.

The holding company of listed Asian Energy Services Ltd. currently has four producing and discovered assets, with three blocks in Assam—Duarmara, Amguri and Tiphuk—and one block in Indrora, Gujarat, that it acquired and turned around.

The exploration company's focus has been to acquire and develop onshore oil and gas blocks in India that are economical or offer a low unit cost per barrel to produce, according to Garg. "With the help of advanced technologies, we have developed the expertise to acquire discovered and producing assets with proven existing reserves with no exploration risks and turn them into producing assets quickly with low upfront investment and a short gestation period."

In 2021, Oilmax acquired 50% of the non-producing Amguri field in Assam, which it claims to have restarted and commercialised within two months. It had seen no production in the 10 years before that.

The production went from zero barrels of oil equivalent per day to 2,150 boepd as of September 2022. Now, major upsides have been found, on account of which production is expected to increase to 2,850 boepd in the current financial year, the Oilmax founder said.

Kapil Garg (Source: Oilmax Energy website)

Upsides

The Indrora field in Gujarat was handed over to Oilmax by ONGC in April. The production has since been ramped up by 50% to 120 boepd through production optimisation techniques, Garg said.

The company expects further upsides based on promising untapped zones in the field that can help scale the production to over 300 boepd by the end of 2023. "The Indrora field has the potential to reach an average of more than 700 boepd in the near future with the use of advanced production and reservoir management methods as well as innovative drilling and intervention techniques," he said.

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Reserves

Oilmax has over 60 million barrels of hydrocarbon reserves and aims to create a reserve base of over 100 million barrels in the next couple of years. It plans to take the total production to 10,000 boepd by 2026, Garg said.

Oilmax is present across the entire oil and gas chain, from exploration to drilling to facility creation and operation to hydrocarbon evacuation and sale.

To date, the government has tendered around 100 contracts to successful bidders under three DSF rounds. Under the model revenue-sharing contract for DSF, the contractor has to complete the work programme and start commercial production from the existing discoveries within three, four, or six years, depending on the nature of the discovery, from the date of granting the Petroleum Mining Lease.

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