The Proliferation of Forms:
The wide-spread use of forms in the oil and gas industry has created nothing short of a revolution in allowing land professionals to expedite the process of putting complex agreements in place. Additionally, this “forms culture” has dramatically helped to ensure excellent quality legal drafting and coverage of legal concepts in a continuously developing and complex legal regime — oil and gas law.
One example of such a widely used form is the Model Form Joint Operating Agreement published by the AAPL. Additionally, several publishers have created their own version of the ubiquitous “Producer’s 88” oil and gas lease form (which, on an unrelated note, has caused great confusion due to the same name being used for a wide variety of lease forms). The Association of International Petroleum Negotiators have also developed several forms for use in the oilpatch. As one last example, Kanes Forms has published a wide variety of forms, such as affidavits, mineral and surface deeds, assignments, and various agreements for use in the oil and gas industry.
But is this widespread reliance on forms purely positive? If not, then what are some of the major landmines to be aware of?
Where Are Forms Inadequate?
One of the first lessons I learned back when I was drafting and negotiating agreements in the construction industry was this: forms are a great starting place, but they shouldn’t be used blindly. The exact same principal applies in Oil and Gas. Some of the reasons for this include: Read More »