I'm pretty sure payout means after recovery of all capital and operating costs. That is, recovery of capital can only come from net revenue after deducting all operating costs.

To use a simple (but exagerated example to make the point) example, suppose a SAGD project capital cost is $100. Now in the first year of operation its gross revenue is $1200 with operating costs of $1190 leaving $10 net revenue. So the question is: Is the initial $100 capital cost recovered after one month of operation (ie 1/12 * gross revenue of $1,200), or after 10 years (ie 10 years * $10 net rev/ year)?

It would seem to only make sense that the capital cost is only recovered after 10 years. Another way of looking at it, is you can't earmark the same gross revenue dollar to both capital recovery AND opearting costs - it can only be spent once.