A prairie rancher checking his fields sees invasive weeds at a pump jack site. He isn’t pleased with the oil company’s inaction on the problem.
He pulls out his smart phone, identifies the exact location of the site on an electronic map, takes a photo, keys in some notes and sends the information to his landowner representative, with a copy to the oil company in question.
This is the scenario Dave Vass envisions as his company launches The Landowner App that he developed to help farmers and ranchers track and monitor oil wells, gas wells and pipelines on their properties.
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And the software, for both regular website access and mobile, is free.
Dave and his brother, Doug, who recently launched Vass and Associates along with their father, Mark, and brother-in-law, Genci Jani, said there’s no catch.
“We’ll never send them an invoice,” Doug said one week after the launch of Vass and Associates.
“We’re just going to charge the oil company for any service that we provide.”
Charging resource firms for fees associated with landowner representation is standard practice, said Doug.
Those using the Vass software will be given the opportunity to hire the firm to represent them, though it isn’t a requirement to use the website or mobile landowner app. Doug and Dave believe the software will be its own advertisement for the firm.
Users will be encouraged to hire Vass and Associates to represent them. If they do, they will receive a free upload of all their oil site, gas site and pipeline data into Vass files for future use and representation.
The software is so new that few have seen it in operation, said Dave. It’s operating on the firm’s website and is now available on ITunes. There is also a planned application for Android phones. No app is planned for BlackBerry.
Convenient use by landowners is key for the new firm, which evolved from the former Foothills Land Co., which primarily represented resource companies.
Vass and Associates will represent only landowners, Doug said.
“We don’t feel like it’s right for somebody to try to represent a landowner when they are also representing the oil company. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t work,” he said.
Added Dave: “We are marketing to landowners and hired by landowners from this point on.”
The brothers’ experiences as land agents showed them that inadequate communication between landowner and resource company is at the heart of many disputes. They plan to address that through the software and their representation.
“The vision behind the software is that we wanted to revolutionize the industry with regards to issues being tracked, uploaded and dealt with,” said Dave.
“We believe that if landowners’ issues are dealt with in a timely fashion, that that will actually increase and enhance the relationship between the landowner and the oil company.”
Most landowners like resource activity on their properties because of the revenue it provides, Doug said, but resource companies must live up to their part of the bargain.
“We’re going to deal with the oil company and just make sure the landowner is fairly represented.”
He said the plan to work only for landowners is a financial sacrifice that they hope will pay off in the future.
Carol Goodfellow, who works on land and energy issues for the Alberta Farmers’ Advocate, said communication is indeed an issue in many disputes that come to her attention, but contract language is a larger factor.
“A greater bone of contention is the gap between what was communicated and negotiated as part of the lease agreement and the landowner’s understanding, and having nothing in writing,” she said.
“Then when those developments are sold … it’s open to interpretation by the next company or by the next landowner and they are bound by the terms of what was agreed to in the contract only.”
Goodfellow encourages landowners to ensure lease agreements accurately reflect what they want in the deal. Later tracking of concerns may serve as evidence should disputes escalate.
Doug Vass said his family’s own experiences in dealing with resource companies on their land in Alberta and Saskatchewan should help them better understand the issues.
The family has ranchland along the Little Red Deer River west of Cremona, Alta., and farmland they rent out near Unity, Sask. Both parcels have oil, gas and pipeline activity.
“That’s a big part of this whole thing,” he said.
“We’re passionate about the fact that landowners need to be fairly represented. We feel that there are certain things that the landowner should know and should be educated on, that they may not know.”
