The Land Department

Hosted by Dudley Land Company

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Aug 2026

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The Land Department shares the state of land and energy as we see it. We cover topics like region and basin-specific challenges and solutions, tactics for producing the best work, opportunities in the industry, and stories from experts in the field.

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August 13, 2026Episode 6559 min

065 - 2026 Round Table: Mentorship, Day Rates, and Responsible AI

Your crews are at capacity, you're turning down work, and the bench behind them is thin. You already know the answer involves bringing new people in, and you also know that handing a trainee a courthouse assignment isn't training. Brent, Steve, and Brandon walk through what Dudley built this year: roughly 100 checkpoints a landman needs exposure to, about 20 paid mentors, and more than a dozen energy management graduates working a six-month program. They get into why day rates finally started moving, what client backing looks like inside an MSA, and why nobody in land can define responsible AI yet. If you're growing a team without giving up the quality your clients hired you for, start here. Key Topics & Timestamps 00:59 - Episode Intro 01:29 - Summer Recap 04:29 - Company Midyear Update 07:52 - Mentor Program Pipeline 18:33 - Day Rates and Costs 23:27 - AI Disruption and Policy 32:58 - AI Policy Uncertainty 34:05 - Quality Control With AI 36:57 - Using Versus Building AI 40:42 - Annual Planning Playbook 50:02 - College Football Memorable Quotes "I've never been in a spot where I've turned down so much work, to be honest." — Steve "Training someone isn't just hiring them and throwing them out there. It's being responsible." — Brent "If you don't have young people coming into the industry, what's gonna happen in 10, 15 years?" — Brandon "There's a difference between using AI and building with AI." — Khalil Key Takeaways Build the training protocol before you recruit. Dudley mapped roughly 100 checkpoints a landman needs exposure to and lined up paid mentors first, then brought trainees in. Recruiting first and sorting out development later is what gave trainees a bad name. Pay your mentors. Mentoring pulls real time and attention away from billable work. Compensating mentors is what keeps a program alive past its first enthusiastic month. Sell the trainee program as a partnership. Clients fund six months of lower production and come out with ten to twenty landmen dedicated to their projects. Framed that way, Steve hasn't had a client say no. Day rates move when you explain the business, not the ask. Insurance, benefits, compliance, and now AI tooling all cost money. Walking clients through that math gets further than twenty years of asking for more. Free AI tools are a confidentiality problem. Contractors pasting client data into consumer chatbots are breaking the same agreements they signed. Approved-tool lists and contract language are the fix, and both belong in your MSA conversations now. Give every goal an owner. Annual planning holds up when each objective carries a named owner and a monthly progress update that goes out to the whole company, misses included. Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. Resources Kudu Suite American Association of Professional Landmen Need Help With A Project? Meet With Dudley Need Help with Staffing? Connect with Dudley Staffing Streamline Your Title Process with Dudley Select Title Watch On YouTube Follow Dudley Land Co. On LinkedIn Have Questions? Email us

July 22, 2026Episode 6456 min

064 - The Grid, Data Centers, and the New Energy Landman with Jigar Shah

The energy business you trained for keeps changing under your feet. Oil and gas, renewables, and now data centers used to be separate worlds. Today they're colliding into one grid, and the land professional sits right in the middle of it. Jigar Shah, former head of the DOE Loan Programs Office, joins Brent and Natalie for a state-of-the-union on where energy actually stands in 2026. Solar and batteries are carrying the load, data centers are learning to play nice, and right-of-way fights are getting solved in ways nobody expected. If you're working land where power, water, and infrastructure all compete for the same acres, this conversation is your map for the next five years. Key Topics & Timestamps 01:23 - Episode Intro 03:10 - Meet Jigar Shah 05:25 - State of the Grid 08:06 - Texas Battery Boom 16:16 - Landmen and Community 33:16 - Contrarians And Progress 34:09 - Right Of Way Resistance 35:14 - Solar Batteries As Incentives 40:06 - Microgrids And Shared Grid 47:24 - Rapid Fire And Wrap Up Memorable Quotes "Everything starts with land." — Jigar "You can't just come in there and throw money at a situation. That'll only take you so far." — Brent "Landmen have built empires for oil and gas for a hundred and fifty years." — Natalie "We just need to depoliticize energy. It's all energy, it's all money, it's all cold beer, and a working coffee maker." — Jigar Key Takeaways Solar and battery storage win right now because they're the only power supply chain that isn't backordered. If you need capacity on the grid fast, that's what you can actually deploy this year. Homeowners are backing into solar and batteries through their budgets, not climate politics. A near-free battery beats a $6,000 generator, and the panels follow once the inverter is already there. Oil and gas, renewables, and data centers are merging into one energy industry. The landmen who can work across all three sectors are the ones getting hired. Community engagement is a core land skill, not a checkbox. Show up, tell the truth, and treat people with dignity before you talk money, or the project stalls. Solar and batteries are becoming the new right-of-way incentive. A $29,000 unit that zeroes a landowner's bill for 35 years beats a cash offer and sidesteps condemnation. The grid is a shared resource, and the companies that tried to go it alone lost. Plan for interconnection and shared capacity instead of off-grid independence. About Our Guest Jigar Shah is an energy entrepreneur, investor, and strategist who served as director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office from 2021 to 2025. He founded SunEdison, led the Carbon War Room, and now co-hosts the Energy Empire and Open Circuit podcasts on the energy transition. Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. Resources Need Help With A Project? Meet With Dudley Need Help with Staffing? Connect with Dudley Staffing Streamline Your Title Process with Dudley Select Title Watch On YouTube Follow Dudley Land Co. On LinkedIn Have Questions? Email us More from Our Guests Jigar Shah, Energy Entrepreneur, Investor, and Strategist Connect with Jigar on LinkedIn Listen to the Energy Empire podcast Listen to the Open Circuit podcast More from Our Hosts Connect with Brent on LinkedIn Connect with Khalil on LinkedIn

June 17, 2026Episode 631 hr 0 min

063 - Division Orders 101: How Royalty Owners Get Paid with Rebekah Stringer

Every royalty check starts with work most people never see. After a lease is signed and a well starts producing, someone has to review title, build the deck, and make sure every owner's decimal interest adds up to a perfect 1.0 before anyone gets paid. That someone is a division order analyst, one of the most important and least understood roles in the land business. Rebekah Stringer, President of the Houston Association of Division Order Analysts and a division order supervisor with twelve years in the field, joins Brent and Khalil for a ground-up tour of the land back office. She walks through the full lifecycle from title review to payment, explains suspense and escheat, and gets into the people side of the job: owner relations, what stays in-house versus what gets outsourced, and how the next generation finds its way into a profession most people stumble into by accident. Key Topics & Timestamps 00:46 - Back Office Matters 02:33 - Rebekah's Career Path 06:46 - Inside Division Order Work 12:15 - Division Orders and Suspense 24:11 - Escheat and Finding Owners 31:00 - Licensing Tiers and Costs 32:02 - PI Tools and Ethics 33:57 - Outsourcing Division Order Work 41:45 - Clean Handoffs and Spreadsheet Reality 52:27 - Talent Pipeline Memorable Quotes "Make it add up to 1.0." — Rebekah "Handling owners is a huge part of what we do." — Rebekah "It's not just getting people paid, it's making sure you've got everything papered up and documented properly." — Brent "Nobody really knows what a division order analyst is, or even that we exist." — Rebekah Key Takeaways The back office is where royalty owners actually get paid. After a lease is signed and a well comes online, the division order team reviews title, builds the deck, confirms every interest adds up to 1.0, and sends out division orders so owners can go into pay. A clean handoff that adds up to 1.0 makes everything easier. When an in-house landman hands over a division of interest that totals exactly 1.0, the division order team can set up the well and get owners paid without untangling a title problem first. Owners carry the responsibility to keep their records current. Operators can't pay or update an owner they don't know about, so address changes, sales, and deaths all sit with the owner to report. That's why suspense exists and why empathetic owner relations matter so much. Some work has to stay in-house. Well setups, deck setups, and complex transfers carry too much downstream risk to outsource. Owner relations, pay code changes, and escheat support are safer to hand off when a team needs to flex up. The profession faces a talent gap, and associations are the way in. Most analysts found the field by accident, and experienced analysts are retiring with their knowledge. Groups like NADOA and HADOA offer the trainings, mentorship, and networking that bring new people in. Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. ⁠ Resources ⁠⁠⁠PBLA ⁠⁠⁠ (Permian Basin Landmen's Association) ⁠⁠⁠Texas Tech University Energy Commerce Program⁠⁠⁠ Need Help With A Project? ⁠⁠⁠Meet With Dudley⁠⁠⁠ Need Help with Staffing? Connect with ⁠⁠⁠Dudley Staffing⁠⁠⁠ Streamline Your Title Process with ⁠⁠⁠Dudley Select Title⁠⁠⁠ Watch On ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ Follow Dudley Land Co. On ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ Have Questions? ⁠⁠⁠Email us⁠⁠⁠ More From Our Guest Rebekah Stringer, President of the ⁠Houston Association of Division Order Analysts ⁠ and board member of the ⁠National Association of Division Order Analysts⁠ Connect with Rebekah on ⁠ LinkedIn⁠ More from Our Hosts ⁠⁠⁠Brent⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠⁠Khalil ⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn

June 5, 2026Episode 6154 min

062 - Powering the AI Boom: Natural Gas, Data Centers, and the Land Beneath It with Peter Snell

AI gets all the headlines, but the data centers behind it don't run without fuel. Natural gas is a huge part of that story, and so is the land underneath it. Peter Snell, founder and CEO of PetroVybe, joins Brent and Khalil to explain how he's building a natural gas company designed for the AI era from the ground up. They dig into why so much Permian gas stays trapped, why PetroVybe operates where the infrastructure already exists, and how a 10-year asset strategy gets built one acquisition at a time. Peter also breaks down how landmen can use AI as a daily planning tool, what data center developers keep getting wrong about mineral rights and right of way, and why planning for failure is part of the model. It's a practical look at where energy, technology, and land work all meet. Key Timestamps 01:06 - Why Data Centers Matter 04:12 - PetroVybe Origin Story 08:02 - Permian Gas Bottlenecks 15:40 - Building a 10-Year Asset Base 20:14 - AI Limits and Landman Playbook 32:32 - Data Centers Land Pitfalls 40:42 - Ten-Year Pivots And Stewardship 47:01 - AI Future Trades Wrap Up Memorable Quotes "AI centers don't exist without fuel, and I think that's often missed in the public eye." — Peter "AI's not here to take your job. AI's here to make your job easier so we can do more with you and not hire five more landmen." — Peter "A landman is not going anywhere." — Brent "Get comfortable with being uncomfortable with learning about those new things." — Peter Key Takeaways AI data centers run on natural gas. The public conversation focuses on AI capabilities, but the compute can't run without fuel. Natural gas is core to powering the buildout, and that puts land and mineral work at the center of the story. The Permian has gas, but it's trapped. The infrastructure is built for oil, not gas, so much of the supply can't reach market profitably. PetroVybe operates in South and East Texas where the takeaway capacity actually exists. East Texas land is a people business. Heirship, complicated title, smaller parcels, and hundreds of mineral owners per project make East Texas a different challenge than the contract-driven Permian. That complexity is exactly where landmen add value. Landmen can use AI as a daily planning tool. Feed Claude or ChatGPT your local context, test it against the macro trends, and build a 30-day, 12-month, and 24-month plan. The goal is to understand the connection points, not become an expert in everything. Data center developers keep skipping the land work. Sites get bought without checking mineral exposure, interconnection queue status, or right of way. The deal looks easy until the dirt underneath turns into a problem. About Our Guest Peter Snell is the founder and CEO of PetroVybe, a natural gas development company built for the AI era. After more than a decade as a management consultant and business fixer, Peter moved into oil and gas and now leads a team focused on natural gas, long-term investor protection, and biblical stewardship. Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. Resources ⁠⁠PBLA ⁠⁠ (Permian Basin Landmen's Association) ⁠⁠Texas Tech University Energy Commerce Program⁠⁠ Need Help With A Project? ⁠⁠Meet With Dudley⁠⁠ Need Help with Staffing? Connect with ⁠⁠Dudley Staffing⁠⁠ Streamline Your Title Process with ⁠⁠Dudley Select Title⁠⁠ Watch On ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Follow Dudley Land Co. On ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ Have Questions? ⁠⁠Email us⁠⁠ More From Our Guest Peter Snell, Founder & CEO of ⁠PetroVybe⁠ Connect with ⁠Peter on LinkedIn⁠ More from Our Hosts ⁠⁠Brent⁠⁠ on LinkedIn ⁠Khalil ⁠⁠ on LinkedIn

May 20, 2026Episode 6158 min

061 - Legacy Series: What 39 Years in Land Looks Like with Kenneth Knott

Kenneth Knott didn't set out to become a landman. His engineering plans got derailed by the 1985 downturn, a friend pulled him into petroleum land management at UL Lafayette, and an ARCO internship hooked him for life. Thirty-nine years later, he just wrapped up a career that included over 25 years at SM Energy, billions in transactions, and a leadership style that kept landmen with him for decades. Brent sits down with Kenneth for a Legacy Series conversation on what longevity in land actually requires. They cover surviving downturns, building team cultures where servant leadership is lived, not just talked, the mentors who shaped him, what separates good landmen from great ones, and his honest take on what AI means for the next generation of land professionals. Key Topics & Timestamps 00:45 - Episode & Guest Intro 03:10 - How Kenneth Became A Landman 07:44 - Surviving Downturns And Longevity 10:25 - Leadership Culture And Team Building 17:13 - Big Lessons, Deals, and Mentors 29:31 - The Mentors Behind Kenneth Knott 38:19 - What Makes A Great Landman 49:06 - Retirement Reflections And Next Gen Memorable Quotes "Our goal is not to make you one of the best landmen. Our goal is to make you one of the best oil and gas professionals." — Kenneth Key Takeaways Servant leadership has to be lived, not just talked. Talking about servant values doesn't move the needle. Build the culture by aligning every hire on values, treating mistakes as lessons, and making the person next to you better every day. Control what you can, accept what you can't, and keep grinding. Surviving downturns in land work isn't about predicting cycles. It's about your work ethic, your willingness to do what others won't, and your focus on what's actually in your hands. Hire for values first, skills second. SM Energy's culture didn't happen by accident. Recruiting was deliberate about finding people who shared the values, because alignment is what lets you have hard conversations when things get rough. Aim to build great oil and gas professionals, not just great landmen. The best landmen understand the breadth of the business. Get curious in engineering, accounting, and marketing meetings. Over the long run, that's what separates the great from the merely competent. Internal networking beats external networking for deal-making. Knowing who to call inside your own company turns regular deals into great ones. The dumb question to a counterpart in another department is often the difference between a clean close and a problem nobody saw coming. AI is a force multiplier, but it can't replace technical foundation. The next generation of landmen has speed, curiosity, and access to tools landmen never had. The risk is taking AI output at face value without the technical baseline to QC it. About Our Guest Kenneth Knott is a 39-year veteran of the oil and gas land business and the recently retired Vice President of Land and Business Development at SM Energy, where he spent more than 25 years. He started his career at ARCO and Vastar before joining SM Energy (formerly St. Mary Land & Exploration), and oversaw billions in transactions, including SM's repositioning out of the Rockies and into the Permian Basin with the QStar, Rock Oil, and Laredo acquisitions. Known industry-wide as "KK," he built a reputation for cultivating long-tenured land teams through a servant-leadership culture rooted in Louisiana grit and decades of field experience. Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. Resources ⁠PBLA ⁠ (Permian Basin Landmen's Association) ⁠Texas Tech University Energy Commerce Program⁠ Need Help With A Project? ⁠Meet With Dudley⁠ Need Help with Staffing? Connect with ⁠Dudley Staffing⁠ Streamline Your Title Process with ⁠Dudley Select Title⁠ Watch On ⁠YouTube⁠ Follow Dudley Land Co. On ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Have Questions? ⁠Email us⁠ More From Our Guest Kenneth Knott on LinkedIn More from Our Hosts ⁠Brent⁠ on LinkedIn Khalil ⁠ on LinkedIn

April 30, 2026Episode 6040 min

060 - AI in the Land Business: Policies, Agents, and What's Next

Every landman is asking the same question right now: what do you actually do with AI? You've watched conference rooms argue about it, you've watched coworkers paste client emails into ChatGPT, and you still don't have a policy that tells anyone where the line is. In this freestyle episode, Brent and Khalil unpack what's actually working in their daily AI use, why most MSAs leave the policy gap to you, and the licensing conversation that's quietly coming for the profession. If you're trying to figure out where AI fits inside your team without losing your reputation or your bench of future landmen, this is the conversation to listen to. Key Topics & Timestamps 01:04 - Freestyle AI Reality Check 02:45 - Midland Takeaways and AI Questions 04:29 - AI Policies and Email Pitfalls 12:32 - Agentic AI and the Landman Future 24:58 - Campus Pulse at Texas Tech 30:33 - Dudley AI Roadmap Q2-Q4 35:11 - Focus Discipline, and Wrap Memorable Quotes "If you're not actively giving guidance and training and tools and resources and policies, it is the Wild West." — Brent "It is a tool 100%, but the way that you treat it is not like you treat a tool. It's more of an employee." — Khalil "You have to be deliberate about your development of your talent." — Brent "When AI starts executing for you, you're not hitting keystrokes as much. You have to start focusing on your judgment. That's gonna be the most important thing." — Khalil "Start with a little snowball. Make a snowman." — Brent Key Takeaways AI policies aren't optional. Without a red, yellow, and green framework (plus a gray zone for the in-between), teams default to the Wild West and confidential data ends up in tools no one's tracking. Treat AI like an employee, more than a tool. You wouldn't hand a new hire client emails on day one. The same caution applies before you paste client work into ChatGPT. The next two years force a hard call on agentic work. Companies have to decide what an agent can do, what a licensed landman signs off on, and how to verify the work behind the disclaimer. Entry-level work is what builds 10 and 20 year landmen. If agents take that work, the bench disappears, so companies need deliberate paths to get juniors real field experience. Pick one problem and ship it. Half-baked tools across six departments is how teams end up with a mess. Focus on one workflow, finish it, then expand. Quarterly cadence works for AI rollout. Start with education and discovery, identify your early adopters, give them room to build on real workflows, then push the polished tool company-wide. Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. Resources PBLA (Permian Basin Landmen's Association) Texas Tech University Energy Commerce Program Need Help With A Project? Meet With Dudley Need Help with Staffing? Connect with Dudley Staffing Streamline Your Title Process with Dudley Select Title Watch On YouTube Follow Dudley Land Co. On LinkedIn Have Questions? Email us More from Our Hosts Connect with Brent on LinkedIn Connect with Khalil on LinkedIn Connect With Us Ready to protect your land projects with integrated legal and title support? Our Dudley Select Title division works seamlessly with experienced oil and gas counsel to keep your deals on track and defensible. Contact us to learn how our complete energy partnership approach includes the legal expertise that matters when stakes are high.

March 17, 2026Episode 591 hr 2 min

059 - Lithium, Data Centers, and the New Land Frontier with Reagan Marble

The energy and infrastructure landscape is shifting faster than most land professionals can track. Lithium prices crashed 85% in two years, yet leasing activity stayed strong. The Smackover Formation emerged as a world-class brine source. Data centers from the East Coast are flooding into Texas, unfamiliar with mineral estates and the landmen who navigate them. Regulatory frameworks are still catching up, leaving operators navigating unprecedented territory. Reagan Marble, partner at Jackson Walker and a go-to counsel for lithium transactions, joins Brent and Khalil to break down what's actually happening in the market, where the real challenges sit, and what the next wave of land work looks like for professionals willing to adapt. Key Timestamps 01:01 - Reagan Marble is Back! 04:19 - Lithium Market Update 10:07 - Regulatory And Permitting Hurdles 18:18 - Consolidation And Lease Cleanup 23:28 - Potash And Bromine Upside 28:16 - Permian Produced Water Lithium 30:52 - Dual Resource Oil And Lithium 32:17 - Landman Skills Evolving Fast 35:46 - Data Centers Enter The Chat 38:30 - Minerals Water And Site Due Diligence 44:11 - Power Crunch And Regulatory Battles 53:17 - Five Year Outlook And Wrap Up Memorable Quotes "As an oil and gas lawyer and as a landman, we are in the people business and that part of the business will never be replaced, ever." — Reagan "Half of our business at Dudley Land Company didn't exist 10 years ago." — Brent "The next five years in lithium development is gonna make the first five or six years since 2020 look like we were moving at a snail's pace." — Reagan "The regulatory framework is gonna be pretty tough. Someone's gonna have to be the first one to go permit it and, good luck to whoever it is. Hopefully it's not me." — Reagan Key Takeaways Lithium market has shifted from land grab to consolidation. Prices compressed, but strong leasing activity persists. Operators who signed deals at peak bonus levels now face renegotiation pressure. Smackover Formation is world-class brine. Lithium concentrations near 800 mg/L compete with South America's best deposits and justify the Texas land rush. Brine production permitting is the next frontier. The Railroad Commission published rules, but no one has successfully permitted a brine production well yet. Primacy over Class 5 disposal wells remains with EPA, creating a regulatory chicken-and-egg problem. Data centers are the new oil and gas. East Coast PE and family offices are competing for Texas land and water, largely unfamiliar with mineral rights and the professionals who manage them. Water procurement and power availability are the real constraints. Landman skillset is expanding rapidly. Modern land professionals now work across oil and gas, renewables, lithium, CCS, and data centers. Human relationships remain irreplaceable by technology. About Our Guest Reagan Marble is a partner at Jackson Walker in Fort Worth and a leading voice in energy transactions across oil and gas, lithium, and emerging infrastructure. His practice spans deal structuring, regulatory strategy, and the convergence of traditional energy and new resource development in Texas. ⁠⁠ Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Resources Need Help With A Project? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meet With Dudley⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Need Help with Staffing? Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dudley Staffing ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Streamline Your Title Process with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dudley Select Title⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch On ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Dudley Land Co. On ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Land Dept. Monthly Have Questions? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ More from Reagan Marble Reagan Marble, Partner at Jackson Walker LLP Connect with Reagan on LinkedIn More from Our Hosts Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brent⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Khalil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn

February 19, 2026Episode 581 hr 3 min

058 - The Evolution of Pooling in the Oil & Gas Industry with Ben Holliday

Energy attorney Ben Holliday breaks down how the oil and gas industry evolved from traditional pooling to today's allocation wells, tackling the complex challenge of drilling long laterals across multiple existing units. From the first Devon allocation well breakthrough to New Mexico's compulsory pooling framework, discover the practical solutions land professionals use to maximize development while navigating regulatory hurdles. What You’ll Learn How allocation wells solved the multi-unit drilling problem without legislative changes Key differences between Texas allocation wells and New Mexico compulsory pooling Why production sharing agreements fell out of favor despite regulatory support How to navigate lease restrictions on allocation well development The evolution from 640-acre units to multi-section horizontal development Time Stamps 00:45 - Episode & Guest Intro 02:38 - Ben's Career Journey 03:58 - Early Experiences in the Oil and Gas Industry 10:29 - Pooling and Unitization Basics 13:48 - Evolution of Allocation Wells 15:52 - Challenges and Legal Aspects 23:10 - Production Sharing Agreements 26:19 - Current Practices and Industry Impact 33:15 - Understanding Lateral Take Points 33:42 - Complexities of Unit Allocation 34:43 - Impact of AI on Landmen and Attorneys 36:52 - Lease Analysis for Allocation Wells 38:16 - Mineral Owners' Concerns 41:52 - Retained Acreage Clauses and Allocation Wells 47:06 - New Mexico's Compulsory Pooling System 58:24 - Contested Hearings and Operator Disputes 01:02:09 - Conclusion and Resources Snippets from the Episode "I learned from Mr. Arrington that in the context of a lease negotiation, 'no' means not right now, and you haven't paid me enough." - Ben Holliday "The general stance of Texas is to encourage development. We don't want to be restraining development, we want resources to be developed." - Ben Holliday “The story of multi-tract development is really a story of industry and the legal side of the house trying to keep pace with each other and what you can do.” - Ben Holliday Key Takeaways Technology Drove Legal Innovation Rule 37 Exceptions Opened Allocation Well Possibilities PSAs Required Too Much Stakeholder Coordination Productive Lateral Formula Became Industry Standard Lease Language Analysis Critical for Allocation Wells New Mexico's Compulsory System Protects State Revenue Both State Approaches Effectively Maximize Resource Development ⁠⁠ Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Resources Need Help With A Project? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meet With Dudley⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Need Help with Staffing? Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dudley Staffing ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Streamline Your Title Process with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dudley Select Title⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch On ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Dudley Land Co. On ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Land Dept. Monthly Have Questions? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ More from Ben Holliday Attorney and President - Holliday Energy Law Group Connect with Ben on LinkedIn More from Our Hosts Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brent⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Khalil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn Connect With Us Ready to protect your land projects with integrated legal and title support? Our Dudley Select Title division works seamlessly with experienced oil and gas counsel to keep your deals on track and defensible. Contact us to learn how our complete energy partnership approach includes the legal expertise that matters when stakes are high.

February 5, 2026Episode 5753 min

057 - How Landmen Should Be Thinking About AI in 2026 with Jerris Johnson

Two years after AI entered the conversation, the real question is what’s actually working in the field and what’s still hype. Jerris Johnson returns to share ground-level insight on how AI is being used in land management today, from runsheet generation to document review. This conversation cuts through marketing noise to focus on practical use cases, real implementation challenges, and why measuring keystrokes matters more than flashy promises. What You’ll Learn How AI expectations have evolved from "it can do nothing" to "it should do everything" Real applications working today in title analysis and land administration Why the "keystrokes saved" approach leads to measurable results Practical steps for building your own AI workflows without enterprise subscriptions The constraint-based thinking that makes AI implementation successful Time Stamps 01:10 - Welcome Back, Jerris Johnson! 01:58 - The Evolution of AI in Two Years 02:50 - Challenges and Misconceptions in AI Adoption 05:48 - Real-World Applications of AI in Land Management 14:49 - Future Prospects and Practical Challenges 27:43 - Exploring AI Tools for Professionals 29:11 - The Importance of Identifying Constraints 30:38 - Leveraging AI for Workflow Efficiency 34:19 - Challenges in AI Adoption 43:26 - Future of AI in Business Snippets from the Episode "We can never use the word 'never' again. Today we're talking about desk work, but even out in the field, humanoid robots are going to be a thing." - Jerris Johnson "A really healthy metric to think about is keystrokes. How many keystrokes are you doing on a daily basis? Does AI allow you to reduce those keystrokes? That kind of thinking will help to see how AI helps." - Jerris Johnson "The AI is an intern. It's an infinitely knowledgeable intern, but it's only able to do what you want as well as you describe what you want." - Khalil Benalioulhaj "We're not faced with this 'death by subscription' concept, which is a real challenge to implementation across a grand scale." - Brent Broussard "Put on the brakes a little bit. I know I told you to try it, but now we've got to be patient. We've got to let the technology catch up to our dreams." - Jerris Johnson Key Takeaways Focus on Enhancement, Not Replacement Use the "Keystrokes Saved" Success Metric Treat AI Like Training an Infinitely Knowledgeable Intern Identify Your Workflow Constraints Before Adding AI Start Manual, Then Scale, Avoid Enterprise Tool Dependency Balance Enthusiasm with Reasonable Expectations ⁠ Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Resources Need Help With A Project? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Meet With Dudley⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Need Help with Staffing? Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dudley Staffing ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Streamline Your Title Process with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dudley Select Title⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch On ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Dudley Land Co. On ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Land Dept. Monthly Have Questions? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ More from Jerris Johnson ⁠The Real Deal Landman Show⁠ Connect with Jerris on ⁠ LinkedIn⁠ More from Our Hosts Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brent⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn Connect with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Khalil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn

January 22, 2026Episode 561 hr 1 min

056 - Day Rates, Mentorship, and the Future of Field Work with Kyle Reynolds

AAPL President Kyle Reynolds sheds light on the landman compensation crisis that's threatening the industry's future. While attorney salaries jumped 76% since 2000, field landmen still earn the same $400-500 day rates they have for the past 25 years. That puts them below the living wage in most markets. Reynolds shares AAPL's strategic plan to address the talent shortage before 40-50% of field landmen retire, plus insights on recruiting across oil, gas, and renewables. What You’ll Learn Why field landman day rates haven't increased since 2000, despite doubled costs The real numbers behind the landman talent shortage and aging workforce How AAPL is tackling compensation conversations without price-fixing Why field experience matters more than ever for career advancement Smart strategies for justifying higher contractor rates to operators Time Stamps 00:42 - Episode & Guest Intro 00:54 - Kyle's Journey as AAPL President 02:15 - The Evolving Role of Landmen 02:45 - Impact of Media and Education on Landmen 04:31 - Recruitment and Training Challenges 07:44 - Field vs. In-House Landmen 11:37 - The Importance of Mentorship 17:51 - Economic Realities and Compensation 26:46 - The Future of Landmen and Technology 35:11 - Understanding Brokerage Fees and Costs 36:10 - The Importance of Skilled Labor in Drilling Projects 37:54 - The Value of Investing in Quality Landmen 38:49 - Challenges and Strategies in Land Management 47:18 - The Debate on Licensing for Landmen 51:35 - Innovative Approaches to Land Management Snippets from the Episode "Field landman day rates have been pretty stagnant, $400 to $500 a day in 2000, and that's still what they're making today. In 2000, a field landman made more than the average attorney. Fast forward 25 years, attorneys are up 50-something percent versus five." - Kyle Reynolds "If you just look at inflation, $400 in 2000 is $770 today. You took what was a really high-paying job and now you're scraping." - Kyle Reynolds "Texas is the only place that our field landmen are making money above the living wage standard. You could make more money working at Buc-ee's than doing this work on an hourly basis." - Kyle Reynolds "The forward face of your company is not your VP of land, it's the landman who actually took the lease and said, 'We're going to take care of you, Mr. Jones.'" - Kyle Reynolds "About 40-50% of our members are nearing retirement age. Most of those are the ones out in the field, brokers, independent landmen. That's where there really is this age gap." - Kyle Reynolds Key Takeaways Field landmen earn below living wage in most US markets Day rates flat since 2000 while attorney pay increased 76% 40-50% of field landmen approaching retirement creates talent crisis COPAS billing rates up 350% while landman rates stayed flat Field experience essential for in-house career advancement Technology requires mentorship can't replace human expertise Quality contractors justify premium rates through measurable results Help us improve our podcast! Share your thoughts in our quick survey. ⁠⁠ Resources Need Help With A Project? ⁠⁠⁠Meet With Dudley⁠⁠⁠ Need Help with Staffing? Connect with ⁠⁠⁠Dudley Staffing ⁠⁠⁠ Streamline Your Title Process with ⁠⁠⁠Dudley Select Title⁠⁠⁠ Watch On ⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠ Follow Dudley Land Co. On ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Land Dept. Monthly Have Questions? ⁠⁠⁠Email us⁠⁠⁠ More from Our Guest Kyle Reynolds - President - American Association of Professional Landmen Connect with Kyle on Linkedin More from Our Hosts Connect with ⁠⁠⁠Brent⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn Connect with ⁠⁠⁠Khalil⁠⁠⁠ on LinkedIn