LAND NEGOTIATORS' VIEW FROM THE FIELD: MAINTAINING YOUR SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE FROM THE LANDMAN'S PERSPECTIVE
| Jurisdiction | United States |
LAND NEGOTIATORS' VIEW FROM THE FIELD: MAINTAINING YOUR SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE FROM THE LANDMAN'S PERSPECTIVE
American Association of Professional Landmen
Fort Worth, Texas
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MELANIE B. BELL is the Executive Vice President of the American Association of Professional Landman (AAPL), which promotes the highest standards of performance for all Land professionals and encourages sound stewardship of energy and mineral resources. AAPL is the managing partner for NAPE Expo, Inc., the world's largest E&P upstream prospect and producing property exposition. Melanie leads the day-to-day business operations of AAPL and NAPE and serves AAPL's chief operating officer. She has extensive industry experience in acquisitions, divestments, business development, and new play entry access. As Director of BP's Onshore U.S. Land teams, she led acquisitions and divestment activities totaling in excess of $12 billion and drilling activities on over 7 million acres of leasehold and minerals, and oversaw all due diligence and integration activities for the firm's entries into the Eagle Ford, Woodford, Fayetteville and Utica shale plays. Prior to joining BP she was in private practice focusing on oil and gas law and served in various leadership and individual contributor roles with Vastar Resources, Inc. and Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) for their U.S. operations. She joined ARCO upon graduation from Baylor Law School. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in Communications. She is a Certified Professional Landman and has previously served as an AAPL Ethics Committee Chairman and as a Director of the Houston Association of Professional Landmen.
I. INTRODUCTION
II. DEFINITION OF SOCIAL LICENSE
III. THE LANDMAN'S ROLE IN THE CONTEXT OF A SOCIAL LICENSE
A. DEVELOPING SOCIAL LEGITIMACY?
B. CREATING CREDIBILITY
C. FACILITATING TRUST
IV. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE LANDMAN'S ROLE
V. THE LANDMAN'S ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS IN SUPPORT OF A SOCIAL LICENSE
A. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
B. THE NEGOTIATION STRATEGY: WHY GO WIN-WIN?
C. USING POWER DIFFERENTIALS TO FACILITATE TRUST
VI. ALIGNMENT IS ESSENTIAL
A. INFORMATION SHARING
B. REDUCE IT TO WRITING
VII. CONCLUSION
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I. INTRODUCTION
Landmen are in the business of access. Most often the Landman is engaged by others to obtain the right to access the subsurface and surface to allow for the exploration and development of a mineral resource on behalf of a project Operator. The Landman's role, duties and responsibilities may be different depending on several factors. Occasionally, the Landman serves as a representative of the mineral and surface owner. A Landman may even serve as the representative of the Operator to the regulator of a project. Sometimes the regulator may also be the mineral and surface owner. And still, in another instance, the surface owner may be different from the mineral owner, creating a split estate situation. All these factors create different relationships and situations that influence the Landman's role in obtaining and maintaining a social license for a project to explore and develop a mineral resource.
The topics and observations discussed here are primarily shared from the perspective of a Landman representing an Operator pursuing access to surface owned by an individual. This paper is further limited to access activities and does not address activities associated with the determination of subsurface and surface ownership. The focus here is on some actions and behaviors of the Landman that assists in the development and maintenance of a social license on behalf of an Operator.
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II. DEFINITION OF SOCIAL LICENSE
A social license is defined as "a local community's acceptance or approval of a company's project or ongoing presence in an area ... [that] occurs outside of formal permitting or regulatory processes, and requires sustained investment by proponents to acquire and maintain social capital within the context of trust-based relationships. Often intangible and informal, social license can nevertheless be realized through a robust suite of actions centered on timely and effective communication, meaningful dialogue, and ethical and responsible behavior."1 Research suggests that a social license is comprised of the stakeholder's perception of the level of legitimacy and credibility and the presence of trust.2 The Landman has a role to play in building social legitimacy, creating credibility and facilitating trust with the Surface Owner and local community.
III. THE LANDMAN'S ROLE IN THE CONTEXT OF A SOCIAL LICENSE
Though not always the case, a significant number of U. S. mineral and surface owners reside in close proximity to the physical location of their mineral or surface interest. The Landman is often the Operator's first representative to interact with the surface owner, Regulator and members of the local community. As a result, the Landman may become the face of the Operator to the other stakeholders in the project. Being physically present in the vicinity of the project, the Landman's identification with
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the Operator to the interest owner, is only rivaled by Operator's production personnel, i.e. those that drill, produce, operate and transport production from the project area. The Landman's role is uniquely influential to the granting and existence of a social license due to its external facing nature.
The quality and characteristics of the Landman's interactions with the surface owner may be the difference in whether the Operator's project is perceived as socially legitimate and credible and whether the Operator is perceived as trustworthy. These initial interactions may also hold the key to a social license within the broader, local community. Neighbors talk to other neighbors in the community and pass along their perceptions of the Landman's actions, behaviors and words that either support, or are in opposition to, social legitimacy and credibility.
A. DEVELOPING SOCIAL LEGITIMACY?
The Landman assists the Operator to build social legitimacy in the community and with the surface owner by being the eyes and ears of the Operator. The Landman seeks to learn and understand the norms of the community by engaging with the surface owner and informally with locals in the community. These important...
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