When you initially scout AJM Petroleum Consultants with a tour of the website, you’ll no doubt be struck by an intriguing technology known as the Resource Potential Model (RPM) that has given this company an ace in the hole.

However, to capture the true essence of AJM’s petroleum consulting business, you need to get to know the people who are at the heart of a thriving company that, after only three years in business, has already completed projects for some of the biggest oil companies in Canada.

The company possesses an incredible wealth of experience in the oil patch – 112 years by the four founders alone – that has fuelled a phenomenal growth story.

“Our executive team all have prior oil and gas experience inside the producer side of the business — amounting to over 225 years,” says Al Ashton, AJM chairman.

Barry Ashton, left, Al Ashton and the team at AJM Petroleum Consultants have built an impressive client list.

“Having senior people with that experience helps us get into the shoes of the producers and be able to understand their perspective.”

When you visit with these folks, you’ll find that the Ashton brothers, chairman Al and president Barry, chief technology officer Jim Jenkins and executive vice- president Robin Mann, and other AJM personnel, tend to do more listening than talking.

“Experience has taught us to listen,” stresses Al, an oil patch veteran who draws on 37 years in the business, including 18 years with Gulf Canada Resources.

“I know that sounds like a cliché, but listening skills are important in business as well as in life.”

Since AJM developed its innovative and distinctive RPM technology, people have been listening intently.

From geostatistics through production data, RPM provides customers with quick and accurate assessments for valuing prospective lands and efficiently delivers a comprehensive, cost-effective means for validating financial projections.

“RPM has come about over the past three years as a result of a number of us in the shop collectively focusing on software development,” says Barry.

“The advantages of RPM makes us unique in the petroleum consultant industry in that we have a full cycle economic model of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

"We’re finding that, as we market this technology, more and more of our clients are finding uses for it that we didn’t even think of.”

During the past year, RPM has evolved into a key business unit, generating a significant portion of the company’s gross revenues.

A ‘sister’ model for oil reserve potential is being developed.

AJM, which was formed in 1999 through a merger of two petroleum consulting firms, intertwines petroleum expertise with technological innovation to manage and analyse information flow.

Another company specialty is in developing reserve valuations for acquisition or divestiture purposes, which is crucial to companies wheeling and dealing properties, be they buyers or sellers.

Since AJM was founded by the Ashtons, Jenkins and Mann (hence the name AJM), the company has gained significant market share, having more than doubled its business in a two-year period.

The four founders of the company are building quite a reputation in petroleum consulting.

“We’ve been able to excel in a role as an independent, third-party appraiser and our Resource Potential Model has enhanced our abilities to perform those tasks and made us more competitive,” explains Al.

A concerted marketing effort has created better name recognition for AJM, resulting in a larger share of the market with the current client base exceeding 90, including several ‘Big 8’ oil companies.

In March, AJM was awarded a three-year contract with a major oil and gas production company to take responsibility for its annual corporate reserve evaluations, acquisitions and divestitures.

AJM’s diverse engineering and geological capabilities include oil and gas property evaluations, reservoir engineering, geology and geophysics and petrophysics.

But while AJM has forged a reputation as a tech-savvy company, it remains clear the company is dedicated to its philosophy of building business through people.