Interview with Norbert Csaszar of MidEnergy Operating

Norbert Csaszar is in the process of finalising deployment of EnergySys for allocation, and represents our first customer operating with onshore assets in the USA.

He spent some time recently talking with us about Midenergy’s work, and how they plan to implement their EnergySys solution.

Your role at Midenergy Operating LLC is that of President, Norbert. What does your typical day look like?

As President my typical day is spent ensuring first that normal in-house operations are being monitored and progressing.  After that I typically attend to planning future operations and proofing reports to partners and working interest owners. Often I will be involved in evaluating and negotiating new asset acquisitions.  Finally, I typically have documents and communications to review regarding our numerous non-operated oil and gas interests.

At Midenergy Operating we really run two businesses in parallel.  Staff members at Midenergy Operating are indispensable as they work on all aspects of the operations every day.  As you know, operations is a 24/7 endeavour, and we are lucky to have very experienced and dedicated staff members in Midland.

The first business is that of operating in the Permian for our main investor group out of Houston.

The second business is that of a non-operating partner and working interest owner in a number of additional oil and gas drilling operations, again primarily in the Permian Basin of Texas.  These positions are held by two additional oil and gas companies we own.

All together we typically have an average of 6 to 9 active drilling projects in any given month.

For the benefit of those not familiar with Texas, what are your main assets, and how do they operate?

Beginning in 2006 our investment management group, know as Lobo Baya LLC out of Houston decided to focus our private oil and gas partnerships exclusively on oil plays.  After some work to narrow the prospects, we are now almost exclusively involved in oil assets (with associated gas) in the wide ranging and prolific Wolfberry play located in the Midland Basin, which is centrally located in the Permian Basin of West Texas.

Who are your main partners, and who are your customers?

Our customers are our investors in our private oil and gas partnerships.  The management team under Lobo Baya LLC currently manages four different private oil and gas partnerships. The majority of our investors are private individuals but we also manage on behalf of some institutional investors.

Can you describe the special issues and complexities you have to deal with, operating in the west Texas Permian Basin?

The Permian Basin in particular, and Texas in general, are oil and gas operator friendly.  That said, as with any oil and gas operation in the onshore United States we spend considerable time ensuring the safety of operations and on compliance issues regulated by the Texas Railroad Commission.

How did you first hear about EnergySys? 

I found EnergySys on the web when I was searching for software that would enable me to simplify my oil and gas allocation processes.  As my number of wells began growing, the task of allocating production between wells and leases based on manual estimates between actual well tests became overwhelming.  I believe and hope that EnergySys, once up and running, will greatly enhance our efficiencies around not only allocation but also reporting.

What was the stand-out feature that made you sit up and pay attention?

Allocation.  Accurate allocation.  Cloud based storage and access to information.

How did you evaluate the offering from EnergySys?

I challenged EnergySys to show me the allocation logic on my largest lease that had six wells all producing to a single battery.  I had manual allocations for about six months and I compared how EnergySys auto allocation compared to, and continued that data set.

What was the key argument or benefit that persuaded you to choose EnergySys?

One was the allocation logic.  Second I like the idea of building something web based that I or any of my employees could operate.  Last, it does not seem like a big heavy software system that sits on a server and requires a lot of attention and maintenance.

You’ll be using our Allocation product – what are the main benefits you foresee?
  1. Efficiency
  2. Accuracy
  3. Reporting automation