So I am working at a new company and we are trying to learn the in's and out's of what it takes to be a Landman. I know that in some/most cases, you nee to go to a courthouse for leases...but what sites/programs should be used in the office to research lease holders, adjacent acreage, etc?

Lemme get this straight: A company hired you to be a landman yet no one in the company knows how a landman goes about his job?

What are you looking to do? But, Drillinginfo has most of that stuff, but you have to subscribe, there are numerous online title sites, but we get our best information from scouts. And you don't go to the courthouse for leases, you go to the courthouse to figure out who to lease then file the lease in the courthouse once it is executed.

Its a start up oil and gas company. And you are kind of right. Will these answers get me some help with my questions?

As per what Apache said, this situation has potential for disaster.

It is not that cut and dry, we are working joint venture on some of these first few wells until we learn how to do the whole bit on our own. I figured the OB would have some of this knowledge to jumpstart as we learn with the other company's land guys.

I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night....so....

relevant stuff is not filed at the courthouse its filed with the county clerk. fyi.

If I were a startup company, I'd look for an experienced independent Landman to do my leasing for me on a contract basis rather than hire someone to learn and stumble around on my dime.

If I wanted to hire someone young, inexperienced & cheap; I'd send them out with the experienced contract guy so they could learn the ropes.

Computer programs, books & on-line learning can't take the place of a good teacher & experience no matter what field you are working in. Don't mean to be a jerk, I'm just calling it like I see it.
(Edit- It appears you are already doing what I suggested. Good luck)



[This message has been edited by Apache (edited 7/11/2011 1:34p).]

unless you're geographically far from the courthouse or it's too packed to get anything done, there is no substitute for going and running the records in the courthouse. the online searches miss a lot of things, and when i was overseeing field guys in my former position it didn't go over well if you got caught just trying to do title searches from the online site.

you can expedite things greatly by visiting a local title plant, then running the records. the online search sites are usually only good for pulling a copy of a record if you're out of town.

send me a message and i'll get you my email if you have any questions

I'm not a landman, but I do O&G law, and here's what I use:

drillinginfo.com, countyrecords.com, titlex.com, RRC search fields.
getting Tobin maps w/ updated leasing info is helpful

Seems like I've seen flyers for a landman 101 course in records rooms before. Might be a good idea to find something like that.

On another note, how would someone w/ no experience as a landman become one? Have a friend interested in it, and not sure what to tell him.

i think the qualifications for landman in south texas right now are 1) pulse, 2) reliable automobile. many brokers are hiring, i would take the nape informational and just start making phone calls

title plants are expensive and skip over a lot of O&G related documents as all they care about is surface.

those have always been the requirements for a field landman when things are going well.

Every crew has it's quota of mirror foggers as they make the broker that much more money on a job.


[This message has been edited by tommyjohn (edited 7/11/2011 2:35p).]

Look into it

http://www.landman101.com/

Tell me you didnt put any of your money in this start up company and your just working for them.

This may help. Just know in advance that most division order analysts can not correctly draw up a division order and they would much rather sit there with a thumb in their ass than correct them.

i look forward to the impending Geology 101 and Engineering 101 threads.

O&G is doing pretty good these days. Boomtown. ... uh state.

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relevant stuff is not filed at the courthouse its filed with the county clerk. fyi.

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With very few exceptions, the county clerk's office is in the county courthouse.

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title plants are expensive and skip over a lot of O&G related documents as all they care about is surface.

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Say what??????

Good way to get a claim filed against you!

Landmen be shopping, baby...can't stop a landman from shopping!