How we work
Senior engineers who have run production, built models, read contracts and sat in the meetings where money gets committed. The steps below are how we keep that experience honest.
How we work
IThe sequence
The steps
From a two-week review to a year retained inside an operator's team, the steps are the same.
- i
Agree the question
Who decides, what they have to decide, by when, and what a useful answer looks like. Scope, interfaces, deliverables and reliance are written down before we start.
- ii
Fix the data
Every source logged with its date, revision, owner and authority. Measured values kept apart from operator statements, estimates and our own judgement. Conflicts shown, not hidden.
- iii
Follow the chain
Reservoir, well, flowline, gathering, separation, treatment, water, gas, power, storage, export. For each system: required against installed capacity, the margin, the limit and what happens when it is reached.
- iv
Check the plan against the plant
Divide the plateau by the well count. Compare the best test with the rate the plan needs. Check that the mass balance closes. Ask who pays, who gains and what the regulator does next.
- v
Give the answer
Approve, approve with conditions, hold, or do not approve. The missing items listed, each with an owner. If the evidence is not there, we say so instead of assuming it.
- vi
Leave something your team can run
A register, a model, a procedure or a data system that works without us, with its basis date on every page.
IIEvidence discipline
How we label evidence
Every number we give you is one of six things, and the wording shows which: the logs show, the operator states, we estimate, we rebuilt this from partial records, this follows from the above, our view is. You can see where measurement ends and judgement begins, and we size uncertainty as a range rather than hedge it.
When two sources disagree we show both values with their sources and say which one we used and why. We never average two inconsistent numbers and we never resolve a conflict silently.
| Class | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Fact | Measured or recorded, with a date and a source | Allocated oil 41.2 mbd on 14 September |
| Operator statement | Stated by the client or a counterparty, not checked by us | Train rated 207 mbd oil |
| Estimate | Our calculation from stated inputs, with a range | Net oil gain 8 to 12 mbd |
| Reconstruction | Rebuilt from partial records by a stated method | Water balance from daily summaries |
| Inference | Follows from the facts by a mechanism we name | Water limit binds before oil limit |
| Opinion | Our judgement, labelled as such | Hold the concept until fluids are measured |
IIIThe verdict
Four possible answers
A review that ends in a summary has not finished. Ours end in one of four verdicts, with the conditions and the missing items listed so the next revision knows what to close. If the evidence has not been supplied, the verdict says so.
- Approve. The basis supports the decision as proposed. Remaining items are recorded for follow-up.
- Approve with conditions. The decision can go ahead once named items are closed, each with an owner and a date.
- Hold. The idea is sound and the evidence is not yet. A numbered gap list and alternative cases are issued.
- Do not approve. The basis does not support the decision, for stated reasons, with what would change the view.
IVEngagement models
Three ways to engage us
Focused review
A defined technical question, an agreed data list and a short recommendation with its basis. Fixed fee where the scope allows. Two to six weeks.
Retained engineer
A senior engineer inside your production, facilities or engineering team on a retained basis, carrying the registers, reviews and plans week to week.
Owner's engineer or study lead
Technical and commercial workstreams for a development, an acquisition or a brownfield project, with specialist partners chosen for the job.
VWhat you receive
What the documents look like
Reports, memos, workbooks and decks follow one house standard. A document number, revision and classification on every page. An Important Notice on scope and reliance. Tables with units in the header and figures right-aligned. Charts that state their point in the title, label the series directly and give the source and date. Conceptual drawings marked not for construction. Workbooks keep inputs, calculations and checks on separate sheets with live formulas, so your engineer can change an assumption and watch the answer move.
The document is shorter than the work behind it. Background you already have, a second example when the first proves the point, and adjectives the number already contains are cut.
AssosTech · Energy · Engineering
See the method on your problem
Send a paragraph on the decision you face. We will reply with the evidence it needs, the time it takes and what it costs.
hello@assostechltd.com · 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN