The Advisory Firm
Built for Independent
Operators
Trusted by independent operators across the basin
Enterprise consultants built for Fortune 500.
We built Stratum for you.
Independent E&P operators face the same operational challenges as the majors — but with a fraction of the resources. You're running 50 wells with a team built for 20, making million-dollar decisions off spreadsheets and gut instinct, and watching margins compress while service costs climb.
Enterprise advisory firms aren't built for you. They deploy armies of analysts on six-figure engagements, deliver 200-page reports no one implements, and disappear. Generic energy consultants know upstream theory but have never actually run a lease operating statement through a downturn.
Stratum is different. We are operators-turned-advisors with real field experience — the kind that comes from actually sitting with your production engineers, not just reading their data. We translate complexity into clear decisions, and clear decisions into results your LOE will show.
"Clarity is the rarest resource in an oil field. Stratum's entire practice is built around delivering it."
200+
Wells Optimized
$40M+
Cost Reductions Identified
15+
Years Field Experience
50+
Digital Programs Delivered
How we work — and why it matters
Operators First
We speak your language — AFEs, LOE, GOR, decline curves. Every recommendation is grounded in the operational reality of running wells profitably, not theoretical best practices from an office tower.
No Shelfware
We don't deliver reports. We deliver change. Every engagement ends with a working plan, trained teams, and measurable outcomes baked into your operations before we disengage.
Right-Sized Rigor
Enterprise-grade analysis, independent-operator execution speed. We bring the analytical depth of a major without the bureaucracy that makes majors impossible to work with.
Ruthless Prioritization
We identify your highest-value opportunities first and pursue them with focus. No scope creep, no endless discovery phases — we get to value in weeks, not quarters.
Where we add the most value
Three practice areas built around the decisions that move your lease operating economics.
Recover the production hiding in your existing wells
We analyze your producing portfolio — decline curves, lift efficiency, ESP performance, water handling — and identify the low-capital interventions that rebuild production without new drilling. Typical operators find 8–15% production recovery in the first 90 days.
- Decline analysis and workover prioritization
- Artificial lift optimization across well types
- Water cut management and disposal cost reduction
- Real-time surveillance protocol design
Build a digital operation — without building an IT department
Most independent operators are paralyzed by the gap between spreadsheets and enterprise software. Stratum designs right-sized digital programs that match your team's capacity: production data platforms, field mobility tools, and reporting systems that give you enterprise visibility at independent-operator cost.
- Technology selection and vendor negotiation
- Data architecture for production and financial reporting
- Field mobility and IoT implementation
- Team training and change management
Make the decisions that compound over years, not quarters
Acquisition diligence, asset rationalization, organizational design, cost structure benchmarking — Stratum brings financial and operational rigor to the strategic choices that shape your portfolio for the next decade. We've sat on both sides of the table and know what the numbers need to say.
- Asset acquisition and divestiture advisory
- Operational benchmarking vs. basin peers
- Cost structure and G&A optimization
- Organizational design for scale
Advisors who have run wells, not just modeled them
Every Stratum advisor has direct upstream operational experience — field engineering, reservoir management, or executive P&L ownership. We've lived the decisions we help you make.
Production Engineering
12+ years Permian Basin field ops
Digital Strategy
Former VP Technology, mid-cap E&P
Reservoir Management
15 years major and independent operators
Your next 90 days could look very different
Start with a no-obligation conversation. We will tell you plainly whether we can help, what a typical engagement looks like, and what outcomes you should expect to see — and when.
No pitch decks. No obligations. Just a straight conversation about your operation.