Upstream

Supporting upstream clients to lead in a highly dynamic landscape, across operations, strategy, M&A, and digital transformation
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We partner with upstream producers across the asset lifecycle to deliver sustained performance gains—spanning strategy, M&A, operations, supply chain, and AI–across unconventionals, deepwater, and all asset types.

Our global team of over 200 experts brings experience from operators around the world, making use of proprietary tools and access to the best external expertise to help deliver rapid impact.

We serve leading independents, majors, and national oil companies across their agenda, with solutions tailored to each asset type, operating region, and company objective.

Our road-tested approach delivers impact across production, cost, and commercial levers. From driving operational excellence to harnessing the power of AI, we partner with operators to navigate complexity, boost performance, and maximize returns.

Examples of our work

Corporate transformation for a Texas-based exploration and production company
Planned and executed a program to capture a $300 million per year cash flow opportunity for an exploration and production (E&P) company—from optimizing operations and increasing production to reducing capital and lease operating expenses. This included development optimization, drilling and completion efficiencies, facilities design, production uptime, and procurement.
Supply chain strategy for an independent E&P
Achieved a 20 percent cost reduction for an E&P company across major categories—beyond savings already realized through downturn renegotiations—by utilizing procurement best practices, digital tools, and strategic sourcing to reduce total cost of ownership.
Remote operating center strategy for a multi-basin independent
Developed a roadmap to transform remote operations capabilities and deploy digital solutions to operations through a new digital strategy and streamlined field execution, targeting $90 million per year in value through production and cost.
Midstream and commercial strategy for an independent E&P
Increased netbacks for crude by over $1.00 per barrel and natural gas by over $0.50 per thousand cubic feet through higher pricing and lower midstream costs from midstream integration, end-user marketing, and enhanced trading capabilities.
Merger integration and synergy capture for a large independent post-M&A
Facilitated merger integration and organizational design, developing an accelerated plan to capture synergies that were over double the publicly announced target.
Capital project optimization for a major deepwater project
Supported a major oil and gas company in reducing $350 million in capital spend for a subsea development through capital scrubs, design-to-value, schedule optimization, and contracting strategy.
First-oil acceleration for a major deepwater operator
Achieved a 30 percent acceleration in the first-oil timelines across greenfield and brownfield projects by streamlining processes, standardizing workflows and designs, creating a front-end engineering design (FEED) e-catalogue, and establishing a robust approach to managing nontechnical risks.
Brownfield redevelopment optimization
Supported development teams in creating a roadmap to redevelop a mature asset, targeting a five-percentage-point increase in recovery factor through a detailed assessment of reservoir potential and optimized depletion planning.

Featured Capabilities

Operational transformation
We deploy rigorous programs with a SWAT team approach to unlock the full potential of upstream assets, targeting production, cost, pricing, and capital efficiency.
Digital and AI
We help devise digital and AI strategies targeted to sources of value in each portfolio.
Supply chain
We help minimize spend while building resilience through supply chain excellence, supported by digital tools and expertise.
Organizational design
We help build organizations that can deliver efficiency at scale and are future-proofed for continual AI adoption.
Capital execution
We help companies optimize major capital projects (such as offshore or LNG) across the planning and execution cycle to improve cost and schedule performance.
Marketing and trading
We help companies in optimizing routes to market, leveraging integration, and building marketing and trading capabilities to maximize total netbacks.
Merger integration
We help integrate organizations and processes between companies while accelerating synergy capture and a tight, fit-for-purpose process for each deal.
Energy transition
We deploy energy transition expertise in helping clients to refine their posture in the energy transition and to align with stakeholder expectations, decarbonization and emissions reduction strategies, and options in new energy business building.

Featured experts

Micah Smith
Senior Partner and Global Leader, Oil & GasDallas
Leads our Oil & Gas Practice globally, advising energy-sector companies on topics ranging from digital, lean methodology, procurement,...
Nikhil Ati
Senior PartnerHouston
Advises clients of the oil and gas industry with particular focus in exploration and production operations
Namit Sharma
Senior PartnerAmsterdam
Brings extensive experience in serving oil and gas companies around the world, with particular focus on strategy and capital...
Otto van der Molen
Partner, PAXAmsterdam
Helps oil and gas clients achieve high-impact performance transformations in operations excellence, lean, capability building,...
Ashwin Mohandas
PartnerHouston
Advises energy companies and investors on strategy and performance topics ranging from AI-led transformations, operational excellence,...
Jayanti Kar
Partner, PAXLondon
Advises energy companies on rapid performance transformations and operating-model redesign

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