Executive

President

It is my privilege to serve as President of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Landmen (CAPL) for 2010/2011, our 62nd year. The CAPL is a professional association of approximately 1,700 members, comprised of a diverse group of individuals who actively participate in their association, industry and community. Regardless of whether a member is a surface landman, negotiating mineral landman, contracts landman, supervisor of land administration or a land manager/VP Land, we all have a wide variety of key business and technical skills that we provide both to industry and to our association.

The association provides numerous benefits to its members and the oil & gas industry as a whole. On an annual basis, the CAPL runs over 50 highly-rated courses, fulfilling one of the key objectives of the Association "to further the education of its members". We also hold 10 monthly meetings, many featuring high profile industry speakers, and we organize more than 10 social events to provide networking opportunities for members. The association also holds an annual Conference (in 2010 our Conference will be held in Kelowna, B.C) and prepares and distributes 10 first class monthly newsletters (The Negotiator).

The CAPL has created and maintains a professionalism program which we have recently updated and made available to a greater number of members. Through post-secondary education, attendance at industry courses (including courses on ethics and fiduciary duties) and other studies, CAPL members may qualify to write an exam to obtain their professional designation, Professional Landman (also known as P.Land). In 2006 the Professionalism Procedure was updated to provide surface landmen the opportunity to obtain specific training and advanced education and be granted Professional Surface Landman status (also known as PSL). In addition, the CAPL by-laws include an ethics code and establish an Ethics Committee to investigate and rule on any purported violations of that code.

The CAPL is widely recognized throughout the oil and gas industry for creating and maintaining several outstanding and broadly-used standardized agreements, such as the CAPL Operating Procedure, the CAPL Farmout & Royalty Procedure, and the CAPL Surface Lease. In 2007 the CAPL Operating Procedure was updated to address the many changes our industry has experienced since the last revision in 1990. Our leadership and direction in creating those agreements has benefited the industry, our association and its members for many years.

In addition, the CAPL is involved in numerous government and industry initiatives such as updating and improving regulations that affect oil and gas activities, surface land acquisitions, stakeholder relations and freehold landowner concerns. We work with provincial and federal regulators on various issues, such as mineral tenure, access to surface rights and stakeholder consultation. CAPL committees and members also frequently work jointly with other industry associations, such as CAPP, SEPAC, CAPLA, IRWA and AASLA on many diverse issues.

The CAPL has an active Public Relations Committee that has undertaken numerous projects, such as fundraisers for the Alberta 4H Branch and other worthwhile organizations, taking the CAPL booth to career fairs, rural open houses and agricultural and industry events.

Our Technology Committee has worked diligently to keep our website fresh, improve the on-line Roster and to provide current information to our members and the industry. In addition, upgrades to our system were recently carried out in order to facilitate on-line payment and registration for education courses and our annual conference.

The efforts and accomplishments described above have been made possible primarily through the hard work and dedication of many volunteer CAPL members. The association also has three full time and one part time employees, who all provide outstanding service to our members and ensure the efficient operation of our association's affairs. The CAPL office is an extremely busy place as the majority of our courses are run in our training centre, and many of our day-to-day committee and industry meetings are also held on site.

The CAPL is also greatly blessed by numerous sponsors and supporters. These groups range from industry companies who allow their staff the time to work on these many projects, to financial support from numerous companies related to both the land profession and the oil and gas industry. We would not be able to provide the high quality of service and events without their support.

Thank-you to our member volunteers, staff, sponsors and supporters for making the CAPL such an outstanding and successful professional association. If you would like any further information regarding our association, please do not hesitate to contact me, the office staff or any of the other directors.

J.E. (James) Condon, P.Land

Independent

Phone:

(403) 819-2423

Cell:

(403) 819-2423

Email:

jim.condon@shaw.ca