Anyone who has tried to introduce change within the oil and gas industry has heard the phrase “We’ve always done it that way” more than a few times during their career. It is the expected response from oil and gas executives and managers who have run their operations the same way for decades. While they have continually implemented new and effective technologies in the field and downhole and worked with other industries in developing and advancing things like geosteering, fracturing and countless other elements of drilling and upstream field operations, there is one area that has not really changed since the industry began shifting from an exploration mindset to large-scale development activities in the early 2000s. That area is the repetitive processes of new well development driven mostly by the move into unconventional oil and gas plays.

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Some innovative industry leaders have shifted to a new mindset regarding operational management. Moving from an approach that manages new well development programs as if all wells are unique exploratory wells to one that only needs a manage-by-exception approach for all wells in an asset is much easier than it seems.....