Pricing pressure rises for Indian oilfield equipment manufacturers

India

Dalmia Shantanu, managing director of Casewell, talks to The Energy Year about growing the company’s product portfolio to compete in domestic and international markets and its recently launched carbon-capture venture, No Carbon Energy.

Casewell is a manufacturer of oil and gas equipment and tools.

• India’s oilfield equipment market has become highly competitive in recent years, and pricing pressure has significantly increased for manufacturers.
• Tariffs and protectionist policies have turned the US into a challenging export market, and Casewell and other manufacturers are finding more attractive business opportunities in the Middle East.
• Casewell is opening manufacturing centres in Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and is projecting revenues of around USD 10 million in Oman and the UAE by the end of 2026 or 2027.

How do you assess the competitive environment in India’s oilfield equipment market?
Initially, our competitors were companies from Europe and the US, but today, much of our competition is from India – often alumni of ours who understand cost structures and pricing. The domestic arena has become extremely competitive; the market for our product lines is relatively small, and there is significant pricing pressure.
While we do work with companies such as ONGC, Cairn India and TotalEnergies – for example, we are currently executing a contract in Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra with SLB and Baker Hughes – the overall opportunity is limited. Therefore, we prefer to focus on markets with better pricing potential, such as key Middle Eastern countries where domestic manufacturing of our product lines is still limited.
In international markets, we always work with local partners who can strengthen our market reach and help us meet local content requirements. Partnerships are crucial in the Gulf because tenders often require strong in-country value credentials. Following this model, we have come to supply PDO and BP in Oman, while in the UAE and Qatar, we work with ADNOC and QatarEnergy. In Saudi Arabia, we are building a relationship with Aramco along with SLB and Halliburton.

How has Casewell evolved its operations to address competition in India and expand internationally?
We have improved our manufacturing with advanced technologies and expanded our product offerings significantly. Over the past several years, we have focused on the upstream segment, particularly cementing and downhole tools. We have partnered with international suppliers for elements that we are not licensed to manufacture ourselves, such as products with premium threads, and we have also developed several patented products of our own to increase our offerings.
Previously, we manufactured only for Halliburton, but today, we do so for SLB, Baker Hughes and supply directly to various E&P companies as well. This means that, along with direct sales to oil companies, our products are integrated into the services of the top three cementing firms globally. We have entered markets in Latin America – Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Argentina – and have opened manufacturing centres in the US. We will soon have manufacturing centres in Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well. In some cases, we have sold minority stakes in our operations to strategic partners – not for capital but for market access and sales support.

What are your key priorities by region?
We are targeting USD 20 million-25 million in revenues from our India operations over the next three years. Our US unit is already generating around USD 10 million in revenue, and we expect similar numbers from Oman and the UAE by the end of 2026 or 2027.
Our immediate focus is on expanding and stabilising our presence in the Middle East and Latin America. The US has become a challenging market due to tariffs and protectionist policies, making the Middle East more attractive for business. Our goal is to penetrate these markets deeply and achieve sustainable revenue growth of 20-25% annually.

Can you tell us about Casewell’s new venture, No Carbon Energy?
No Carbon Energy is our environmental technology initiative. We have partnered with a US company for technology and signed a contract with the government of Uttar Pradesh. We capture methane from waste, convert it into electricity, and capture the resulting carbon dioxide emissions for sequestration underground, as well as conversion into feedstock and lab-grown diamonds.
We have already set up our first facility in Shamli and plan to establish 100 similar plants across India over the next five years. Each plant will cater to towns with populations of around 100,000 and process approximately 50-100 tonnes of waste per day. The electricity generated will be sold to the grid or used to power EV stations.

Are you able to generate carbon credits with this model?
India does not currently allow international carbon trading in most industries. However, our model qualifies under the two exceptions to this constraint: offshore wind and direct air capture. Therefore, we can generate carbon credits and sell them internationally at prices that make the business financially viable and scalable.
The venture is part of our broader energy and environmental strategy. Oil and gas will remain a core part of our business, but the transition to cleaner alternatives is unavoidable. No Carbon Energy allows us to be part of that transition. While Casewell focuses on upstream technologies, No Carbon Energy positions us in the renewable and carbon mitigation space, creating a balanced portfolio for the future.

Read our latest insights on:

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Colombia
• India
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• UAE