Production Allocation Software
Multi-well pads. Allocated correctly the first time.
Production allocation is the math that splits commingled pad measurements back to the wells that produced it. At 500+ wells across multiple pads, 1 to 3% of allocated production silently drifts every month. That drift becomes misallocated revenue, royalty disputes, and state-audit risk. The WorkSync multi-source allocation engine closes the drift loop.
Definition
What is production allocation?
Production allocation is the math that splits commingled production (oil, gas, water) measured at a pad or facility back to the individual wells that produced it. The output is per-well daily volumes that feed production accounting, royalty calculations, severance tax filings, and state-required reporting to the Texas RRC, Oklahoma OTC, Wyoming OGCC, and North Dakota NDIC.
The standard method is the well-test allocation factor: each well gets tested individually on a periodic cadence (typically monthly), and the test ratios become the allocation weights for the days between tests. Reservoir engineers know this method drifts. The longer a well goes between tests, the less the test ratio reflects current behavior. Multi-pad operators with 500+ wells lose between 1 and 3 percent of allocated production every month to this drift.
The cost shows up downstream. Misallocated revenue. Royalty disputes that take quarters to resolve. State-audit findings that force amendment cycles back six months. Severance-tax over- and under-payments that net out across the operator but are painful at the lease level.
Where allocation breaks
The four drift modes, and how WorkSync closes each.
Drift 01
Stale well tests
The drift
Allocation factors derived from a 90-day-old well test stop reflecting today's reality. A well that has decline-cured 20% since its last test gets over-allocated; its pad neighbors get under-allocated.
WorkSync fix
Per-well decline-forecast overlay continuously adjusts the allocation factor between physical well tests. Flags the wells where the drift has exceeded the cost-of-a-well-test threshold.
Drift 02
SCADA gaps
The drift
When individual-well SCADA is missing or unreliable, allocation falls back to manual estimates. Estimates compound. A 3% error on one well becomes 1% error across the pad and 0.5% error at the operator level.
WorkSync fix
WorkSync's Data Quality Agent flags SCADA gaps with dollar-impact estimates so the well-test schedule prioritizes where the data is worst, not where it is most recent.
Drift 03
Reconciliation breaks
The drift
Sum of allocated volumes must match facility totals. When they do not, the spread gets stuffed into a "balancing well" or smeared across the pad. The audit trail goes dark.
WorkSync fix
Reconciliation is enforced. When totals disagree, every well's contribution is visible with the source-input timestamp. State auditors get a defensible methodology, not a black box.
Drift 04
Amendment chaos
The drift
Prior-month amendments after a late well test, a corrected meter, or a discovered error require re-allocation backward. Without versioning, the new numbers replace the old and history goes dark.
WorkSync fix
Every allocation factor is versioned by date and input source. Prior-month amendments restate cleanly. Royalty owners see a consistent, traceable trail.
Continue the cluster
Allocation is one piece of the upstream-optimization discipline.
Companion pillars
The cluster
State reporting
Where allocation hits the regulator
How the loop closes
Capability deep-dives
Frequently asked
What production accountants ask about allocation drift.
What is production allocation in oil and gas?
Production allocation is the practice of splitting commingled production (oil, gas, water) measured at a pad or facility back to the individual wells that produced it. The math relies on most-recent well tests, reservoir engineering, and SCADA-measured behavior. The output is per-well daily volumes that feed production accounting, royalty calculations, severance tax, and state-required reporting.
Why is production allocation hard at scale?
Three reasons. (1) Well tests drift: the further a well is from its last test, the less accurate its allocation factor. (2) SCADA gaps: missing data on individual wells forces estimation, which compounds errors downstream. (3) Reconciliation: the sum of allocated volumes must match facility-measured totals, and state regulators require auditable methodology. Operators with 500+ wells across multiple pads can lose 1-3% of allocated production to drift (illustrative industry figures), which shows up as misallocated revenue and royalty disputes.
How does WorkSync allocation work?
WorkSync uses a multi-source allocation engine that combines (1) most-recent well tests, (2) SCADA-measured behavior, (3) reservoir engineering decline forecasts, and (4) facility-level reconciliation totals. The engine produces a daily allocation factor per well with full audit trail back to the inputs. When inputs disagree (which is common), it surfaces the disagreement instead of silently picking a winner.
How does this integrate with our production accounting system?
WorkSync writes daily allocated volumes directly into Enertia, Quorum, W Energy, Oildex, or your existing production accounting system via the DataHub. The allocation factors are versioned so prior-month amendments are traceable. Royalty owners and state regulators see consistent, auditable numbers.
Does this replace our reservoir engineer's well-test scheduling?
The reservoir engineer keeps the final call. WorkSync uses the well tests your team already runs and flags wells where the allocation factor has drifted enough that a fresh test would be cost-justified, providing the drift signal and the dollar impact of waiting another month to test.
How fast can we see allocation drift in our current data?
During the 4-week pilot, we run our allocation engine in parallel with your current method and surface every well where the two methods disagree by more than 5%. The list of disagreements is the deliverable, with the dollar impact of each disagreement attached so you can see what the drift is worth before you decide anything.
See your allocation drift in 4 weeks.
We run our engine in parallel with yours. Every well that disagrees by more than 5% shows up on Day 1. Under the Impact Guarantee, license fees only when the metrics move.