The ordinary Kazakh lawyer and NeuronOil founder, Asylan Zhumagaliev, shared his business journey, insights into the conservative oil and gas sector, and early international projects with ER10 Media:

«The idea came by chance. In Aktau, I was sitting at a table with a geologist. He received a work call and was visibly upset. I asked him what was wrong, and he replied that an exploratory well turned out dry. As we talked, I learned that with existing technology, exploration success in the oil and gas industry is only 50–60%. A company might drill 10 wells, and if 5–6 contain oil or gas, it’s considered a great result — enough to recoup exploration costs, while drilling “dry” wells is written off as a loss, costing millions of dollars. I argued with the geologist, as it seemed illogical to me. Oil companies have enough money, so why don’t they develop better technology to minimize losses? I learned that everyone had accepted this “gold standard” and no one was trying to change it. I started researching and reading about the issue. I studied existing technologies and simulators, learning that geologists divide fields into large surface “cubes,” often drilling randomly in such areas. It seemed clear that this technology could be improved. Then I came across an article suggesting that, theoretically, clusters of wells could be used for calculations instead of cubes. Understanding that we could conduct calculations differently pushed me further toward solving the problem. If one technology has reached its peak, a new one is necessary».

— What is the idea behind your product? 

— We developed algorithms and formulas based on historical, geological, and other data that increase drilling and selection accuracy for geological and technical measures up to 95%. Considering that each well costs $1 to $15 million to drill, imagine the savings for companies.

The high accuracy comes from our unique calculation unit — instead of a “cube,” we use a well. We can “virtually place” a drill anywhere on the field and calculate the likelihood of hydrocarbons at that specific spot. We can also estimate the percentage of liquids, water, and oil, - said Asylan Zhumagaliev, NeuronOil founder.

Read more details on the website er10.kz.