The SPE Mumbai Section successfully organized its flagship technical conference, "Technology-Driven Production Enhancement: Unlocking More from India’s Mature Fields," held 22–23 May at the MCA Club, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai. The event brought together more than 400 delegates representing operating companies, service providers, government agencies, academia, and research institutions, highlighting the growing importance of mature-field revitalization in strengthening India’s energy security.
The conference was attended by several distinguished industry leaders and policymakers, including ONGC’s director of production and director of exploration, Oil India Ltd.’s director of exploration and development, SLB’s South Asia managing director, senior partners from Oliver Wyman and KPMG, and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG)’s joint secretary of exploration. Their participation underscored the strategic significance of maximizing production from India’s mature hydrocarbon assets through innovation and technology deployment.
The event provided a collaborative platform for discussions on production enhancement, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), reservoir management, and sustainability. Throughout the 2-day program, speakers emphasized the need for stronger partnerships among operators, technology providers, policymakers, researchers, and young professionals to address the challenges facing aging oil and gas fields.
The conference began with opening remarks from SPE Mumbai Section leadership, who highlighted the importance of knowledge sharing and cross-industry collaboration. The inaugural session focused on the evolving role of mature fields within India’s energy landscape as the nation seeks to meet growing energy demand while navigating the global transition toward lower-carbon energy systems.
A key highlight of the opening ceremony was a special video address by MoPNG Secretary Neeraj Mittal. Mittal emphasized the continued relevance of all forms of energy in supporting India’s economic growth and development objectives. He highlighted the critical contribution of brownfield assets to domestic hydrocarbon production and stressed the importance of diversifying energy supplies through accelerated development of unconventional resources such as shale gas and coal bed methane. He also referenced the government’s Samudra Manthan initiative, which aims to expand offshore exploration activities and unlock new resource potential.
Industry leaders reinforced these priorities by outlining a three-pronged strategy focused on exploration, production enhancement, and technology adoption. Presentations highlighted the need to treat reservoirs as dynamic systems requiring continuous surveillance, real-time monitoring, advanced artificial lift solutions, and EOR interventions. Several speakers discussed ongoing efforts to reverse production decline through expanded drilling campaigns, advanced seismic acquisition programs, and improved subsurface characterization techniques.
Representatives from Oil India Ltd. presented recent achievements in seismic acquisition, deep drilling, and exploration within mature basins. Case studies demonstrated the successful application of advanced logging technologies and the identification of deeper hydrocarbon-bearing zones. Future plans include ultradeep drilling campaigns targeting depths beyond 6,000 m, reflecting the industry’s commitment to both maximizing recovery from existing assets and discovering new resource opportunities.
One of the most anticipated sessions was the executive panel discussion titled "Addressing Key Challenges in Mature Oil & Gas Fields." The panel featured senior leaders and technical experts from ONGC, BP, Reliance Industries, SLB, and other organizations. Discussions focused on improving recovery factors from aging reservoirs that are increasingly affected by declining production rates, rising water cut, and aging infrastructure.
Panelists emphasized that enhanced reservoir surveillance is fundamental to extending field life and improving recovery efficiency. Technologies such as 4D seismic monitoring, AI-enabled production analytics, multilateral drilling, and advanced reservoir characterization were identified as critical enablers. The discussion highlighted the importance of understanding reservoir behavior in real time to reduce uncertainty and support informed decision-making.
The panel also examined barriers to large-scale implementation of advanced technologies. While many production-enhancement solutions have demonstrated technical success, organizational structures, approval processes, and risk-management practices can often delay deployment. Speakers agreed that overcoming these challenges will require not only technological innovation but also greater operational flexibility and stronger collaboration across the industry.
EOR emerged as a recurring theme throughout the conference. Experts highlighted the significant potential of polymerflooding, chemical EOR, and CO2-based recovery processes to increase oil production from mature reservoirs. Even modest improvements in recovery factors could result in substantial additions to India’s domestic oil production and contribute meaningfully to reducing import dependence.
The technical program reflected the industry’s increasing focus on digital transformation. Presentations covered digital twins, production optimization platforms, real-time drilling analytics, and physics-guided machine-learning applications. One notable case study described the implementation of a digital twin for an ONGC asset, demonstrating measurable benefits through real-time production optimization and operational efficiency improvements.
AI and machine learning featured prominently across several sessions. Applications included predictive pipeline corrosion monitoring, production forecasting, budget optimization, and offshore asset integrity management. These examples illustrate how data-driven technologies are evolving from experimental concepts into practical tools capable of delivering measurable operational value.
Additional technical sessions explored advances in drilling, completions, intervention technologies, logistics optimization, smart facility design, and future-ready offshore infrastructure. Sustainability and decarbonization also received considerable attention, with presentations addressing carbon capture and storage, CO2 transportation infrastructure, carbon-sequestration forecasting, and low-emission energy technologies.
The conference concluded with a strong message that India’s mature fields remain valuable strategic assets. While challenges associated with declining production and aging infrastructure persist, the integration of advanced technologies, digital solutions, EOR methods, and collaborative partnerships offers a clear pathway to sustaining and increasing production.
A key outcome of the conference was the recognition that technology-driven interventions can unlock significant volumes of previously unrecovered hydrocarbons. By accelerating deployment of these solutions and fostering greater cooperation among stakeholders, India can extend field life, improve recovery factors, strengthen energy security, and maximize value from its existing hydrocarbon resources.
