No matter how much they paid me, I could never be a land man in the Bakken. I met some of the nicest folks yesterday, all land men working for the same company in Williston. Very, very interesting to talk to them in general terms. They did not get into any specifics but just talked about what it was like to be a land man in the Williston Basin.
It reminded me of my days as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman 40 years ago. Can you imagine going to a farmer to arrange for a well to be put on his land, and knowing that the farmer no longer had the mineral rights? The mineral rights had been sold, traded, or given away decades earlier.
The law requires that the surface owner allow the well. Of course, the surface owner is compensated for use of land, but it sure doesn't make up for fact that he/she does not own any of the mineral rights. Bummer.
Nope, I could not be a land man.
I asked if they thought the Bakken had been over-hyped. Their answer: we're just getting started.
"You know that formation just below the Bakken."
Long pause.
"It's bigger than the Bakken."