A Comprehensive Review of Operating Agreements and Well Trades

InstructorDorsey T. Roach, CPLDorsey is a native Oklahoman. He attended theUniversity of Oklahoma where in 1977 hereceived a B.B.A., majoring in Petroleum LandManagement (PLM). Upon graduating, Dorseybegan his career with Exxon Corporation wherehe was trained and specialized as a pooling andunitization landman. Assignments with Exxonincluded Los Angeles, Anchorage, Houston,Midland and Oklahoma City.Dorsey has also held various staff andmanagement positions with Mesa, Inc., CrawleyPetroleum Corporation, Union Pacific ResourcesCompany, The Williams Cos. and CheyennePetroleum Company while located in Amarillo,Dallas/Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.Dorsey is currently owner/ general manager ofUnitPro Land Consultants, LLC in Oklahoma Citywhere he offers expert witness services forlitigation involving land contracts. He also assistscompanies in structuring, preparing andnegotiating the land contracts related to drillingventures, and teaches seminars involving landrelatedcontracts and agreements.In 1984, Dorsey joined the AAPL lecture circuitwhere he began speaking on pooling, unitization,well trades and operating agreements. He hasgiven hundreds of presentations and seminars tosuch organizations as the American Associationof Professional Landmen (AAPL), theSouthwestern Legal Foundation, the Texas,Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas BarAssociations, the Oklahoma Marginal WellCommission, Desk & Derrick, COPAS and manylocal landmen’s associations and other industryrelatedorganizations. Dorsey has also authored anumber of papers that have been published byvarious land and legal organizations.From 1986-1989, Dorsey served as Chairman ofthe AAPL Operating Agreement RevisionCommittee. This Committee was responsible forrevising the AAPL Model Form OperatingAgreement, resulting in the issuance of the AAPLForm 610-1989 Model Form OperatingAgreement. The revisions included the removal ofmany problems, pitfalls and ambiguities known toexist with earlier AAPL operating agreement formsas well as the addition of many new provisions.He also served as a consultant to the AAPLCoalbed Methane JOA Task Force that draftedmodifications for inclusion into the AAPL 1982 and1989 operating agreement forms that are uniqueto CBM operations. He currently serves onAAPL's JOA Task Force that is once againrevising the AAPL Model Form OperatingAgreement.Dorsey has been a member of AAPL since 1977,and a Certified Professional Landman (CPL) since1986. He is a past member of the Los Angeles,Permian Basin, Southern Oklahoma, Dallas andFort Worth Landmen’s Associations. He iscurrently a member of the Oklahoma City andTulsa Associations of Professional Landmen.Dorsey has chaired various committees, or heldBoard positions with, the Los Angeles, OklahomaCity and Tulsa landmen's associations. He servedas president of the Tulsa Association ofProfessional Landmen in 2004. In 2004, he alsoserved as Chairman of the Regulatory PracticesCommittee for the Midcontinent Oil and GasAssociation.From 1983-2009, Dorsey served as an AdjunctProfessor for the University of Oklahoma wherehe lectured in the Business College’s PLM andEnergy Management programs. Topics includedpooling, unitization, operating agreements, welltrades, title opinions, title curative, regulatoryagencies and land administration. From 1995-1997, he served as Chairman of the OU PLMSteering Committee that was responsible for therestructuring of the PLM Program into what is nowthe Energy Management (EM) program.Beginning in 2008, Dorsey also began serving asan Adjunct Professor in the Energy ManagementProgram at the University of Tulsa.320JOAflyer 3 March 20-21, 2013