Measure EUR in Months, Not Years

Some operators wait years to learn whether a design change really paid off.

High performers don’t. They treat early-time data as a decision engine—tightening the loop between what we thought would happen and what the reservoir actually did.

What Changes When the Loop Shrinks

• Faster truth. Decline slope, pressure behavior, and drawdown response reveal themselves early.
• Smarter capital. Money moves toward what works—and away from what doesn’t—before budgets harden.
• Less debate, more evidence. Teams align around a shared, current picture instead of defending old assumptions.

A Practical Surveillance Stack

• Daily allocation with exception flags. See variances today, not next month.
• Pressure and fluid-level trending. Tie well behavior to lift settings, choke strategy, or chemical program.
• Type-curve adherence. Track 90- and 180-day deltas against the expected decline family, not a single curve.

A Monthly Cadence That Compounds

• Refresh your model with the latest production and pressure data.
• Run small, controlled trials—lift or choke changes—on look-alike wells.
• Lock in each win by templatizing setpoints and MOCs so the improvement scales.

Final Thought

Assumptions don’t create value—learning does.

The faster your operation learns, the faster your capital compounds.

What separates high performers isn’t luck or acreage; it’s how quickly they close the gap between what they believe and what’s true in the field.

If this question hit home, you’ll want to hear how it plays out in real operations.

Join Robert Wichert of Cougar Energy on Wisdom at the Wellhead as he unpacks how operators turn fast feedback into lasting gains.