OB gets much more traction than the job board does, so I figured I would start here.

Looking to transition out of oil and gas field operations and in to becoming a ROW Agent. Located west of San Angelo, but willing to work anywhere in the Permian.

Do any of the OB guys work in this industry? Would like to figure out how to get in with zero prior land acquisition experience and see if y'all may have any leads of companies to check with. Have been in O&G since 2012, production field operations the last 10 years, but the work/life balance or should I say, lack of work/life balance is getting to me. I'd like to be around to see my kids grow up and not putting in 15-16 hours a day away from the house. Don't mind traveling, can talk to just about anyone and feel like my skills would transition well to this line of work, but every job posting I'm finding is looking for 5 years of land acquisition experience.

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3555605/replies/70740598

Might start with any of the companies in these type threads?

I started that thread, but the segments of the line are all subbed out to different land acquisition companies for certain distances of the line in different areas. I don't know who the subs were buying the easements for Whitewater which is a midstream company. Every ROW job I've come across is looking for agents with at least 5 years experience. Which is why I asked if I could get pointers from guys in the business when I have zero experience.

Meatball said:

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I'm in the environmental consulting field and my company conducts natural and cultural resources surveys for linear projects. As such, we routinely work with ROW agents for access permission. These guys also generate plats, acquire easements, etc.

We work nationwide, but most of the projects I manage are located in Texas. If you want, you can shoot me a text/call me at nine 7 nine 9 six 6 two 9 zero 0 and I can give you some contacts. I already messaged one land agent just to ask the question about hiring entry level, and he said they absolutely will. His words "We hire for character and train for competency".

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Yep, taken a lot of you boys out on ranches....or, should I say, BS'd the landowner while they worked.

Have learned some cool stuff along the way. Environmental & Archaeological surveys are the cool ones.

O.G. said:

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I do.

Currently working on projects in the San Angelo Region, (also Ozona & up in the panhandle) rebuilds on old powerlines currently. There is a lot o of that going on & we are hiring. Given all of the solar/wind etc etc thats coming on line, powerlines are being upgraded everywhere now. Thats where the work is.

However, I can not say for sure where you will be assigned if they take you.

Contract Land Staff can be a $#!t show, depending on who is still there, but they did at one point have an onboarding class where they had an actual orientation, where they showed people how to look up Title etc, rather than just shadowing an old landman.

You can PM me here & I'll fill you in or shoot me your resume and I'll send it up. If you apply at the website/online it will just go on the stack and they'll get to you when they get to you.

Email. ryancampbell Nineteen Seventy-Two AT gmail. dot com

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Agree... Not sure the landman route will give you much relief in terms of work/life balance. It can be brutal too. The jobs that are "better" will likely be occupied by experienced landmen.

With your field experience, maybe consider regulatory compliance. Those jobs exist upstream, midstream and downstream. On the midstream side, you will need to thoroughly understand 40 CFR 191, 192, and 195 for starters. That information is readily available for study and with your field experience much of it will sound familiar. Upstream/downstream compliance is less structured and harder to find regs but still available. This is not to say 191, 192 and 195 are easy to grasp, they are not. They are federal rules at the end of the day and well, you know how that goes.

Most will want experience regardless of what you choose to pursue. The best way to make a change is usually with the company you currently work for, in my experience. Some regulatory compliance jobs are remote nowadays. You will still have to travel some but it is manageable. Good luck.

AgFan1974 said:

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O.G. said:

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I do.

Currently working on projects in the San Angelo Region, (also Ozona & up in the panhandle) rebuilds on old powerlines currently. There is a lot o of that going on & we are hiring. Given all of the solar/wind etc etc thats coming on line, powerlines are being upgraded everywhere now. Thats where the work is.

However, I can not say for sure where you will be assigned if they take you.

Contract Land Staff can be a $#!t show, depending on who is still there, but they did at one point have an onboarding class where they had an actual orientation, where they showed people how to look up Title etc, rather than just shadowing an old landman.

You can PM me here & I'll fill you in or shoot me your resume and I'll send it up. If you apply at the website/online it will just go on the stack and they'll get to you when they get to you.

Email. ryancampbell Nineteen Seventy-Two AT gmail. dot com

---

Agree... Not sure the landman route will give you much relief in terms of work/life balance. It can be brutal too. The jobs that are "better" will likely be occupied by experienced landmen.

With your field experience, maybe consider regulatory compliance. Those jobs exist upstream, midstream and downstream. On the midstream side, you will need to thoroughly understand 40 CFR 191, 192, and 195 for starters. That information is readily available for study and with your field experience much of it will sound familiar. Upstream/downstream compliance is less structured and harder to find regs but still available. This is not to say 191, 192 and 195 are easy to grasp, they are not. They are federal rules at the end of the day and well, you know how that goes.

Most will want experience regardless of what you choose to pursue. The best way to make a change is usually with the company you currently work for, in my experience. Some regulatory compliance jobs are remote nowadays. You will still have to travel some but it is manageable. Good luck.

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This part, can not be over emphasized. Did my time in northern states, took a while to get back to Texas.

If you are a young man, trying to raise kids with a young wife, I do not recommend it.

Single men, perfect. Older guys with grown kids, also good.

Having said that, there is a lot going on in Texas with powerline rebuilds, so the work is here currently.

The company culture of Exxon Mobil is sucking the life out of me. If we could have stayed Pioneer I would have never left and retired with the company, but Exxon Mobil is a nightmare to deal with on all levels, and I'm ready for a change of scenery. I routinely leave the house at 4:30 AM and get home around 8-9 PM most nights. I drive 400+ miles a day in the Southern Permian between my commute and managing vendor crews in different areas. Tired of the 70+ hours a week and most of the surface land men I have talked to said their weeks look nothing like that. These guys are all experienced with many years under their belt, but said even when they started out it wasn't anything like that.

O.G. said:

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AgFan1974 said:

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O.G. said:

---

I do.

Currently working on projects in the San Angelo Region, (also Ozona & up in the panhandle) rebuilds on old powerlines currently. There is a lot o of that going on & we are hiring. Given all of the solar/wind etc etc thats coming on line, powerlines are being upgraded everywhere now. Thats where the work is.

However, I can not say for sure where you will be assigned if they take you.

Contract Land Staff can be a $#!t show, depending on who is still there, but they did at one point have an onboarding class where they had an actual orientation, where they showed people how to look up Title etc, rather than just shadowing an old landman.

You can PM me here & I'll fill you in or shoot me your resume and I'll send it up. If you apply at the website/online it will just go on the stack and they'll get to you when they get to you.

Email. ryancampbell Nineteen Seventy-Two AT gmail. dot com

---

Agree... Not sure the landman route will give you much relief in terms of work/life balance. It can be brutal too. The jobs that are "better" will likely be occupied by experienced landmen.

With your field experience, maybe consider regulatory compliance. Those jobs exist upstream, midstream and downstream. On the midstream side, you will need to thoroughly understand 40 CFR 191, 192, and 195 for starters. That information is readily available for study and with your field experience much of it will sound familiar. Upstream/downstream compliance is less structured and harder to find regs but still available. This is not to say 191, 192 and 195 are easy to grasp, they are not. They are federal rules at the end of the day and well, you know how that goes.

Most will want experience regardless of what you choose to pursue. The best way to make a change is usually with the company you currently work for, in my experience. Some regulatory compliance jobs are remote nowadays. You will still have to travel some but it is manageable. Good luck.

---

This part, can not be over emphasized. Did my time in northern states, took a while to get back to Texas.

If you are a young man, trying to raise kids with a young wife, I do not recommend it.

Single men, perfect. Older guys with grown kids, also good.

Having said that, there is a lot going on in Texas with powerline rebuilds, so the work is here currently.

---

It takes a while to get out of the suck in any job path. They don't go handing out well paid "cush" jobs, usually. That said, field ops guys usually have an easier path to compliance than land work, in my experience (which is first hand). I did my time moving around the country missing ball games and birthdays. Been everywhere form NM to NY and it was'nt always fun.

Good to know we are keeping the courthouses busy. Make hay my friend...

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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The company culture of Exxon Mobil is sucking the life out of me. If we could have stayed Pioneer I would have never left and retired with the company, but Exxon Mobil is a nightmare to deal with on all levels, and I'm ready for a change of scenery. I routinely leave the house at 4:30 AM and get home around 8-9 PM most nights. I drive 400+ miles a day in the Southern Permian between my commute and managing vendor crews in different areas. Tired of the 70+ hours a week and most of the surface land men I have talked to said their weeks look nothing like that. These guys are all experienced with many years under their belt, but said even when they started out it wasn't anything like that.

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I get it... I have lived it too. And I agree, land work would probably give some relief from the butt kicking that is production field ops.

Don't rule out compliance, though. Find out who runs the regulatory department at Exxon and ask questions. A couple more years with them to get some experience is not a bad option when contrasted with your current situation, I'd bet. The regualatory department likely has a unique cuture and may be shielded from SOME of the bs you are accustomed to. You will trade that for the bs coming from the federal and state regulators but more ball games is more ball games.

Our entry level compliance positions are glorified field techs (lots of pipeline maintenance). But, as you advance your time in the field is greatly reduced. I currently work from the house and usually travel 2 or 3 times a quarter. I am an old and been at it a while, to be clear.

I can't really offer much assistance in recommendations. I can say I work for an operator and moved from Regulatory to Surface Land Negotiator in the Eagle Ford this year. Needless to say it is a whole different world working in Surface Land than it was on the regulatory side, in some ways good and some ways not so much.

Focus on learning to run title vs acquiring signatures. Every broker seems to be looking for title help and that has more opportunities for remote work.

Yep learn to run title and that will help you be valuable, as most of landman don't have time to run title as our time is spent chasing signatures, negotiating surface damages and running down landowner complaints!

When yall say title, it would be cursory title you're talking about for surface landman work, right? Or are y'all talking about running full mineral title?

That would be correct.

Meatball said:

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O.G. said:

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Meatball said:

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I'm in the environmental consulting field and my company conducts natural and cultural resources surveys for linear projects. As such, we routinely work with ROW agents for access permission. These guys also generate plats, acquire easements, etc.

We work nationwide, but most of the projects I manage are located in Texas. If you want, you can shoot me a text/call me at nine 7 nine 9 six 6 two 9 zero 0 and I can give you some contacts. I already messaged one land agent just to ask the question about hiring entry level, and he said they absolutely will. His words "We hire for character and train for competency".

---

Yep, taken a lot of you boys out on ranches....or, should I say, BS'd the landowner while they worked.

Have learned some cool stuff along the way. Environmental & Archaeological surveys are the cool ones.

---

No doubt. The archeologists in this field are some interesting characters to say the least. But the West Texas surveys are the best. The number of sites out there is wild. Really cool to see, but a pain in my butt to deal with permitting/consultation wise lol.

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My oldest granddaughter, Class of '26, recently started her first job and has been doing archaeological surveys. And based on what she has told me so far, I think "interesting characters" is a good description!

one safe place said:

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Meatball said:

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O.G. said:

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Meatball said:

---

I'm in the environmental consulting field and my company conducts natural and cultural resources surveys for linear projects. As such, we routinely work with ROW agents for access permission. These guys also generate plats, acquire easements, etc.

We work nationwide, but most of the projects I manage are located in Texas. If you want, you can shoot me a text/call me at nine 7 nine 9 six 6 two 9 zero 0 and I can give you some contacts. I already messaged one land agent just to ask the question about hiring entry level, and he said they absolutely will. His words "We hire for character and train for competency".

---

Yep, taken a lot of you boys out on ranches....or, should I say, BS'd the landowner while they worked.

Have learned some cool stuff along the way. Environmental & Archaeological surveys are the cool ones.

---

No doubt. The archeologists in this field are some interesting characters to say the least. But the West Texas surveys are the best. The number of sites out there is wild. Really cool to see, but a pain in my butt to deal with permitting/consultation wise lol.

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My oldest granddaughter, Class of '26, recently started her first job and has been doing archaeological surveys. And based on what she has told me so far, I think "interesting characters" is a good description!

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Any idea who she is working for? Just curious.

Funny story: I was in IL a few years ago and had to go to one of their county meetings because we had to do a re-route through some county property.
Part of that property was a cemetery, part was an open field. We were going through the field part, but there was concern about unmarked Civil War dead being buried there. So we were going to have to do a serious Arch survey.

This was in the same courthouse & literally the same room that Abraham Lincoln once did a case in. Which was kind of cool & thank god my filter caught it, because I almost said, "for which side"? It was about to come out of my mouth but i bit down.