"Independent Land Man": still a viable profession?

Part of their compensation (if they were good) was to receive an overriding royalty on any deal they put together for drilling.

I believe deals like this are pretty much unheard of now.

Most of the oil development money is chasing leases/wells that were drilled in the 80s/90s/00s and re-developing them using horizontal drilling. They know the oil is there already due to those old wells, so there is much less risk in going after it.

So there is currently not a need for landmen to put together exploratory deals for wildcat wells.

Guy in my neighborhood still does it and “you wouldn’t believe what they pay (him) to work from home doing it”


Never talked details with him beyond that. In his 30s.

There are also right of way jobs for other industries, solar, wind, utilities. Getting some experience there could help. I have been longing for one of these jobs for a while now.

quote:

---

What is a typical income scenario for a Land Man?

---

Landman is one word. Day rates for someone who is working under a main lead broker umbrella will be based on experience and said lead broker's willingness to share a portion of the top day rate they get per landman on a job ($450-550 these days), but sounding like you're looking to start fresh, so maybe something like $250/day to start brand new with zero experience.

Also depends on willingness to travel and be flexible if they need someone shagging leases or surface/ROW agreements. Many courthouses are online these days for title research, though some lead brokers like to have someone able to make that physical trip to a courthouse too, even one that's online, from time to time.

Also get compensated something like 55-58 cents per mile, and depending on the contract with the main client, maybe something like $25-50 per day for meals, depending on if staying overnight in hotels for work.

quote:

---

How much training/certification is involved?

---

Hell, you honestly could land something with a lead broker with zero previous trainings or certificates if they see you as someone willing to put in time to learn, hustle, and they're willing to understand that there will be progression and a learning period. Some aren't willing to invest that, which is a shame because the field needs new, young folks coming up still wanting to fill the needs.

quote:

---

Hard to break into?

---

See above for sort of the same answer. Maybe taking an online course or two from a university COULD assist. Back when I was in college, I think only U of Louisiana-Lafayette, OU, UofH, TX Tech, Ole Miss and U of Denver had full fledge Professional/Petroleum Land Management curriculums. Now many more do. LSU, I think, has some sort of Energy Management curriculum where you might be able to take an online course or two if you want to display some sort of education.

The professional organization, AAPL, does courses as well.

Hope this helps.

Western Colorado state has a PLM degree too… and I think Tulsa might as well.

I thought those degrees were more for in house landmen though??