On-Demand Webinars

Speaker: Paul G. Yale

Speaker: Allen Cummings, Law Offices of Allen D. Cummings

Speaker: Celia Flowers

AAPL’s Ethics Video is specifically designed to enhance and elevate members’ awareness of the importance, the implications and the opportunities Ethics present for the Land profession.  It underscores the AAPL’s continuing commitment to Ethics and reinforces our viewpoint, values and vision to members and the public alike.

Speaker: Robert Pritchard

Speaker: Diana Frazier, CPL

Oilfield Economics: Understanding Expenses and Revenue

 Zack Arnold | General Manager of Operations | Northeast Natural Energy

Investing basic oil and gas well economics, this presetation analyzes expenditure and revenue throughout each step of the drilling process.  The expenditures are broken down into specific categories highlighting the costs and operations of hydraulic fracturing, drilling and producing the well.  The presentation works to demonstrate actual revenue by evaluating market pricing, basin level adjustments and operating expenses. 

Regulatory Permitting: Natural Gas Infrastructure

 Kenneth E. Tawney | Member | Jackson Kelly PLLC

This presentation will provide an overview of government regulation of the midstream segment and current issues that relate to landmen. 

Petroleum Geology

Aaron J. Adams, PhD | AAPG Certified Petroleum Geologist

Today's fast-paced business world demands continuous communication about the catalysts that make the oil and gas industry tick.  Common petroleum geology themes that can influence land acquisitions/divestments and budgets include prospect risking, identifying hydrocardbon potential and play mapping.  Take home a few key techincal conversations that will enrich team discussions and help define the value of your mineral acreage. 

Principled Leadership: A Road from Good to Great

 Joan Vestrand | Associate Dean and Professor of Law | Western Michigan University - Thomas M. Cooley Law School

Detailing the behavioral science behind ethical decision making, this program addresses why ethics matter to both personal and professional success and also focuses on pricipled life and leadership and its benefits.  It explores the human brain, including the pull of our subconscious and its powerful influence on our choices and decisions.  Best strategies for avoiding the slippery slope of self-destruction are identified and encouraged for production of the moral muscle memory necessary to overcome our own oftentimes nefarious influence.  The importance of personal integrity in leadership, and in best life practices, is demonstrated, as are the benefits of positive attitude and optimism in our ability to lead and achieve. 

Negotiating the Oil and Gas Lease

Roger A. Soape, CPL | President and Majority Shareholder | Roger A. Soape, Inc.,

Negotiating the oil and gas lease is almost always a unique event.  Still, the individual events all have many common elements.  Leasing properties in Texas, for example, will share many principles with leasing in every other state.  The presentation will concentrate on the common elements of negotiating the oil and gas lease.  As we will see, some of those common elements can be influenced by the parties' uncommon actions and circumstances. 

Speaker: Darrell Noblitt

Speaker: George Snell & Associates

2013 Southwest Land Institute-Dallas, TX

2014 Utah Land Institute- Solitude, UT

Speaker: Casey Davis

Speaker: Cody Lee

Speaker: Marlene Chism

Speaker: David Ganje

Speaker: Gary Lepine

Speaker: Shawn Bennett

Speaker: Michael Byrd

Speaker: Joshua Becker

Speaker: Keith Couvillion

Speaker: Kelli Fereday

Drafting and Interpreting Deeds and Voluntary Conveyances

The Conveyances class is more about the actual mechanics of the drafting and interpretation of instruments affecting real estate.  Start by exploring what it really takes to make a valid deed, the elements that can be changed, and those that are indispensible.  We will then revisit rules of construction, as applied to conveyances, and then dig into the nitty gritty of interpreting mineral and royalty deeds, calculating the fractions of ownership that they can create, and shining a light on all the traps for the unwary.  We will spend a good amount of time learning how to tell the difference between a mineral and a royalty deed, as well as learning to recognize and apply the Duhig Doctrine and related issues.  We will finish the Conveyances class with coverage of some specific "gotcha" instruments and circumstances to be wary of, and what to do when you find them.

The Government Lands class covers ownership not only by the United States, but also by the various states and their respective political subdivisions, and how contracting with them is different.  The class covers state lands in a general way, and gets more specific in dealing with the US Government lands, with special attention to the workings of the Bureau of Land Management and Minerals Management Service, and other government agencies (such as the US Forest Service) as they intersect oil and gas development.  The class will also cover Indian Lands, with a focus on the Rocky Mountain region, and cover some of the special circumstances that come along while working in Indian Country.

The Oil and Gas Lease is the pivotal document in our business.  The Oil and Gas Leases course starts by exploring the lease in context of real property documents, and its place in our business.  The course then walks you through a complete understanding of the functional anatomy of an oil and gas lease, highlighting all the places where the various clauses and operating parts interrelate (so that if you change one, you'll know how it may be affecting the others), as well as giving plenty of historical context of leases used in prior days, and what parts of the lease should really be left alone and unmodified without expert guidance.  While the course does not attempt to cover the vast subject of implied covenants, operator duties, and proper calculation of royalties, it does cover the changes to standard leases that modern shale plays are generating, along with special emphasis on lease formation and the pitfalls that await the unwary related to void or voidable leases, cross leasing and top leasing.

Develop a thorough understanding of the differences between Working Interest and Net Revenue Interest, how to calculate them, and how to apply them in your work.  Expand upon the Post Lease Transaction 411 class and apply ownership shifts (such as Carried Interests and Back-Ins After Payout) to the ownership calculation, and demonstrate how these shifting interests affect the ownership calculation of the Working Interest as well as the Net Revenue Interest over time.

Basics for Landmen, Legal Descriptions, Remedies & Enforcement

Starting out with a fundamental understanding of contracting principles, and how they apply to real estate and oil and gas transactions.  Since contracts dealing with real estate are required to be in writing, and generally require a valid legal description, we also cover legal descriptions in some detail in this class.  Next, the Contracts class explores how courts interpret contracts, and the general rules of construction that they use, to better help you make sense of contracts that are ambiguous or could have been drafted more clearly.  Finally, discuss various remedies and enforcement options for contracts, and how those enforcement options apply in the oil and gas context.

Easements, Liens & Mortgages, Zoning & Land Use Regulation

Covers the limitations on use and enjoyment that affect the ownership of property.  Start by discussing physical encumbrances, such as easements and roadways.  Also covers rivers and streams in this segment, and explore how to determine if a road or stream is an easement, or under separate ownership of another, and how we apportion ownership underneath if it is an easement.  Next, cover financial encumbrances, such as mortgages and liens.  Finally, cover regulatory encumbrances, such as zoning, endangered species act, and other regulatory restrictions that impact our ability to drill wells (with the exception of well permitting by a state conservation agency, which is covered in a later class).

Forms of Joint Ownership, Will, Descent & Distributions, Marital Property & Homestead, Corporate Ownership, Trusts & Agency

The Parties class seeks to lay out all the potentially competing interests and rights in one place, so that you gain a full understanding of how all these different rights intersect and affect one another.  Start out with an overview of all the various modes of holding title, such as joint tenants, tenants in common, life tenants, etc., and explore the more exotic interests as well which can spring up over time.  With that background, then begin a non-state specific exploration of wills and trusts and intestate succession, and then explore how the different forms of property ownership (i.e. marital property, community property, separate property) affect descent and distribution.  Then overlay the various homestead laws and how they affect conveyancing and each of the former topics.  Finish the Parties class with a review of the various forms of corporate ownership, trusts, and acting as representative for another.

This Property Seminar is designed to provide Landmen an overview of some of the basics of Texas real property law. This course covers basic concepts in property law, different types of estates in land, both surface and subsurface, statutory estates in lands, such as homesteads, community property rights, and water rights, as well as the requirements for a sufficient legal description.

In Putting It All Together, look at how all of the information from the prior 411 classes fits in with the entire industry, the landman’s role in the industry, how an oil and gas concern mitigates oil and gas title risk, and where the value proposition is for the land side of the business. Look in depth at where we get our land title information, building abstracts and runsheets, and verifying that we are producing good information. Follow a drilling venture through its entire lifecycle to show how the role of the landman is integral to every segment of a well's life, including our work in preparing runsheets, negotiating leases, performing curative and how we support doing deals, moving rigs, drilling wells and producing oil and gas.  The Landman is what makes our industry go.

In the Title Assurance course, start by exploring the various sources of risk for an exploration venture.  Then quickly focus on title risk, where it comes from, and what can be done to lessen the risks.  After reviewing the alternatives, delve rather deeply into the use of oil and gas title opinions as a risk management tool, how they are constructed, what they contain, and how they can be used to best effect. Then cover "curative" - the process of minimizing as much risk as possible, the methods that are available to us, and the relative cost and time effectiveness of the various tools at our disposal.  This will include an introduction to a system that may allow adopting companies to streamline the curative process by application of a weighting system of standard title faults and delegation of curative authority "downline" for certain classes of title fault.  Finally, the course will review the title faults most often encountered, the standard fixes for them, and how they might be categorized into a policy based curative system such as the one introduced.

Speaker: Thomas Valentine

Speaker: Mark Christiansen

(7) RL/RPL/CPL Credits, including (1) Ethic credit

2014 Mining and Land Resources Institute-Reno, NV

Speaker: Paul Negenman

Speakers: W.B. Phillips, John Blair, James McAnelly III

Speaker: Paul Taranto

Speaker: Chris Theal

Speaker: Steven Wentworth

Speaker: David Gross

Speaker: William F.  Bailey

Speaker: Blair Gardner

Speaker: William Hood

Speakers: Roy Millen & Charles Kazaz

2015 Southwest Land Institute-Dallas, TX

Topics:
- Legal and Legislative Update
- State of the Industry
- Easements
- The Outlook for Energy
- Comparative Review on Land Operations of the Various US Regional Plays
- Ethics
- Horizontal Pooling in Texas

Speakers: Dorsey Roach, Bob Chase, Doug Dashiell & Eric Potter

Speakers: Don Bluedorn and Anne Blankenship

Speaker: Deborah King

Speaker: Tom Seng

Speaker: Tim Spear

Speaker: Poe Leggette

Speaker: Aaron Heishman & Shane Harvey

Speaker: Rob Shultz

Topics & Speakers:

Legal & Legislative Update - John Hicks, Scott Douglass & Philip Jordan, Gray Reed & McGraw

Production Sharing Agreements & Allocation Wells - Philip Jordan, Gray Reed & McGraw

Global Perspective on state of industry/oil prices/supply and demand effects - Jim Wicklund, Credit Suisse LLC

Political Environment/AAPL support efforts - Jay Howard, Hillco Partners

Ethics360 - Craig Young, Young and Shedd

Distress & Bankruptcy in Today's Oil and Gas Market - Katherine Clark, Thompson & Knight LLP

Topics and Speakers:

- JOA, Dorsey Roach

- Due Diligence, Eric Thompson

-Petroleum Geology, Marron and Mike Bingle-Davis

-The Role of the Landman at $30 oil, Marc Strahn

-Happenings of the Oil and Gas Commission, Mark Doelger

-Easement/ROW, Dave Ditto

-Ethics 360, Curt Horne

Topics:
- Oral Agreements
- Update on Water Rights in Nevada
- Odds and Ends of Mining Law
- Safe Grouse Issues
- Importance of Due Diligence and a clean title in Acquision and Divestiture Contracts
- Social Responsibility
- Mining Law Update
- California Regulations
- Nevada Minerals, Geothermal and Oil Production Update
- Ethics
- What Were We Thinking? Pumpkin Hollow's Big, Bold, Congressional Land Transfer

Details:
This video is approximately 10 hours in length 

Global Perspectives on LNG

Susan L. Sakmar | Visiting Assistant Professor | University of Houston Law Center

This presentation addresses the role of LNG in the global energy supply mix in the context of a number of oftern conflicting policy goals related to economic growth, energy security, climate change and environmental sustainability.  Of particular focus is the increase in LNG trade to recent years, which has led many to question whether the has markets are "globalizing."

The General Mining Law

Joshua B. Cook | Associate | Crowley Fleck PLLP

A session on the history of mining in the West and summary of the General Mining Law as it exists today, this presentation gives an overvview of the rights and nuances associated with unpatented and patented mining claims, how claims are located, the types of claims available, federal requirements and variations in state law requirements. 

Perspectives of the Lessor (Landowner) and Lessee

Paul Simpson | Partner | McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore LLP

Mark A. Acree, CPL | President | Three Rivers Resources Co.

This course will discuss the inherent differences in concerns, strategies and negotiations between a land owner and a lessee.  A landman typically represents a lessee, oil and gas lease, surface use or damages agreement, right of way, seismic permit, etc.  The land owner will have different goals, interests and perspectives than the landman's client.  The discussion will outline the principal measures each party take to negotiate a fair and reasonable transaction while highlighting some of the common areas of contention and reasons therefore. 

The AAPL 2015 JOA: So, What's New?

Fred M. MacDonald | Partner | MacDonald & Miller Mineral Legal Services PLLC

This presentation identifies and explains the reasoning and changes behind what has now been named the AAPL 2015 JOA.  Issues involving changes in ownership, failure of title and leases containing Pugh Clauses are addressed in the new 2015 JOA as are matters involving the operator, nonconsenting parties and the use of emails for sending formal proposals and making elections. 

U.S. LNG Exports: Opportunities and Challenges

Susan L. Sakmar | Visiting Assistant Professor | University of Houston Law Center

In recent years, the prospect of U.S. LNG exports has captivated global gas markets.  With the first U.S. LNG exports expected in 2016, the presentation discusses the role of U.S. LNG exports in the context of global gas markets and identifies the opportunities and challenges for U.S. LNG exports going forward. 

Acquisitions & Divestitures Strategies

Mark A. Acree, CPL | President | Three Rivers Resources Co.

Kevin M. Gormly | Partner | Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

This course will outline strategies relating to A&D activities, searching for opportunities in the market, documenting a deal, and methodologies to close a transaction.  Topics will include the structure of an agreement, the roles and responsibilities of the parties, and execution from due diligence to closing (and post-closing events).  The course will also touch upon the challenges of A&D in the current climate and review recent transactions in the industry. 

Offshore Leasing & Development: The Changing Landscape

J. Keith Couvillion, CPL | Deepwater Land Manager, Deepwater Exploration & Projects Business Unit - Gulf of Mexico | Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

This presentation will review the current oil and gas leasing procedures used for federal offshore submerged lands and the new 2017-2022 Five Year Leasing Program currently under consideration by the Department of Interior.  This presentation will also review certain new and proposed changes to the existing regulations that will impact the drilling and development of offshore energy resources and will look at some of the new technologies being development to more efficiently extract hydrocarbons from outer continental shelf properties. 

Business Etiquette - A Focus on Social Media

 Deborah King | President and Founder | Final Touch Finishing School, Inc.

Technology has blurred the lines between our personal and professional lives.  It is not uncommon to answer work-related calls or check emails and texts after hours.  Knowing how to communicate effectively face-to-face, on the phone, through an email, text and on social media is essential.  Learn key points to consider before you hit the send button. 

Joint Operations in Down Economic Times: Practical Application of the New 2015 JOA

Dorsey T. Roach, CPL | Manager/President | UnitPro Land Consultants, LLC

Given the current market conditions in this industry downturn, it is important to consider the various nuances of how joint operations play out in challenging market conditions.  This advanced session will highlight the practical application of the new AAPL 2015 JOA form to take into account bankruptcies, enforcing/litigating the agreement in such a market and in general joint operations, and the implications on the Joint Operating Agreement when parties are financially distressed. 

Landwork/Technology - Then and Now

William "Bill" Justice, CPL | Consultant | Thomas Development Corporation

This presentation will discuss the ways in which all facets of landwork are affected by technology, with a particular emphasis on how work was performed prior to the wide-spread acceptance of various new technologies. 

In the video, we will take a deep look at private equity, and how it can be used to support private (and public) E&P companies.  We will start by providing a background of banking for in-house landmen, and follow with how private equity affects the VP of Land and in-house landman roles.  We will look at traditional capital and deal structures and how typical agreements affect operations, reporting, and developing new projects.  Next, we will look at startups and new ventures, and some of the new options for funding those entities such as Crowd Funding, and identify the traps for the unwary.  We will also look at traditional, and now, not so traditional sources of capital.  Finally we will look at the Exit Strategies that private equity may require, including paths to going public and asset sales, and how the exit strategy affects the rest of the E&P cycle.

Approximate Length = 4 hours

2016 Santa Fe Land Institute Video -

Topics: Petmitting Issues & Public Lands Update, Due Diligence, Challenges in Future Horizontal Mancos Development, 2015 JOA Update, Litigation Issues, Legislative & Regulatory Update, Ethics

Topics: Basic Elements which make a contract legally enforceable, principles courts use to interpret contracts, defenses to breach a contract, major exploration contracts, standard provisions in an oil & gas lease, drafting assignments of oil & gas interests.

2016 Texas Land Institute Video - 7 hours

Topics: All OCDs - Not BFPs, Oil/Gas Royalty Issues, Drones, 2015 JOA Update, Legislative & Regulatory Update, Bankruptcy Issues, Landmen, Ethics & the Unauthorized Practice of Law. 

2016 Appalachian Land Institute Video - approx 12 hours

Topics: Oil and Gas Industry Update, Legal/Case Law Update, Bankruptcy Basics from a Vendor's Perspective, Legislative Update Panel Discussion, Site Characteristics Associated with Conventional and Unconventional Petroleum Development in West Virginia, Using Old Rights in a New Age, GIS, Lessons Learned from Building a Major Pipeline in the Appalachian Basin from a Land/Legal Perspective, Ethics, State of the Industry

This 14 hour video includes the following topics:

- What's New in the 2015 JOA Form
- The Basics of Joint Operations
- The Operator
- Property Provisions of the Joint Operating Agreement
- Drilling and Development Operations
- Horizontal Provisions of the JOA
- Insurance Broker's Observations on Indemnity and Insurance for Joint Operations
- Tax Planning for Joint Operations
- Respective Liabilities of the Parties
- Marketing the Production
- Judicial Interpretation of the Operating Agreement
- Operations in the Absence of an Operating Agreement
- Mr. Green Leisure Suit Revisited: The AAPL Model Form JOA and Nonpaying Participants
- Article XVI: Selected Provisions
- Communication Ethics
- COPAS Accounting Procedure and Legal and Practical Considerations

Video Overview: Whether a new company, or merely a new drilling program, the source of capital, its exit strategy, and your business’s overall business plan, among many other things, affect how a new venture is structured. This video will cover choice of entity, and how that choice affects what capital you can raise, and what you can and can’t do with each structure. The speakers will also explore the various structures as they affect the liability and liquidity of the sponsor, and look through the eyes of the entrepreneur landman, and not just the capital provider. The speakers will spend a fair bit of time on the tax considerations that drive entity and structure selection, and how it will affect the expectations of capital partners, and companies, and is the single largest driving force in entity selection. Finally, we will look at exit strategies that may be desired and show why you need to know where you are going when you start, as you generally won’t be able to change it once it is time to exit.

Approximate Length: 4 hours

Video Overview: In the current distressed asset environment, there is expected to be a substantial amount of leased and HBP inventory changing hands over the next period. Such an environment brings with it special challenges that were not present in other times. This video takes an in-depth look at Purchase and Sale agreements, the due diligence that is required in a distressed asset environment, including title work, environmental, advanced defecting and curative, and the difficulties of valuation in such an environment. We will tie this discussion back with the capital, tax and exit strategy considerations of past sessions, to inform the deal structure considerations in and A&D project, with particular attention to how it affects the form of acquisition (i.e. assets versus membership interests), and the tax ramifications for such choices.  Finally, we will look at how to unwind a deal that didn’t quite work, and cover the ways that the parties can safeguard their ability to withdraw from a deal that proves less than they were bargaining for.

SEMINAR TOPICS:

Understand the essential components of any oil and gas lease | Improve ability to convey the meaning and intent of various lease terms and provisions to prospective Lessors | Enhance understanding of frequently encountered lease terms and conditions (both Lessor and Lessee friendly) | Know how to accurately complete blank sections of a lease form. 

2017 Texas Land Institute Video

Speakers and Topics:
Kim Mai; Haynes Boone - Distressed Assets

Ben Holliday; Mazurek & Holliday PC - Accommodation Doctrine and Water Rights

Steve Otillar; Akin Gump- Update on Mexico: Foreign Investments in PEMex

Ryan Sears; Gray Reed - Top Ten Texas Oil and Gas Cases in 2017

James Dupuis; Dupuis and Polozola - Allocation Wells and PSA Wells

George Snell III; Snell Law Firm - Conveyancing

Andrew Potts; Kirby, Mathews and Walrath, PLLC - The Unethical Landman

SEMINAR TOPICS:

Understanding Ownership and Real Property Rights | Sources of Property Rights | Easement Valuation | Surface Damages and Claim Settlement | Damage Calculation and Valuation Methodology | Interfacing with Public Officials | Ethics of Dealing with Regulators and the Public

SEMINAR TOPICS:

Northern Delaware Basin Panel Discussion | Overview of Oil & Gas Private Equity | Understanding Area of Mutual Interest & Preferential Rights Provisions in Joint Operating Agreements | New Mexico Oil and Gas: A Clean, Sustainable, Treasure | New Mexico Oil and Gas Association | Ethics | New Mexico State Land Office Update 

SEMINAR TOPICS:

West Virginia Title Issues | Utica Update | Ethics | Land Information Systems | Appalachian Storage and Trading Hub | Characteristics of Well Permits in West Virginia | Managing Complex Projects | ORRI/NPRI Burden Discussion | Interplay Among Vested Interests in Surface, Coal, Natural Gas & Gas Storage | Current Landscape for the Independent Contractor Landman | Apply the Ohio Marketable Title Act & Dormant Mineral Act to Extinguish Ancient Oil and Gas Severances