After losing his job during the COVID pandemic, Roy Garcia decided to return to school.
He had a bachelor’s degree in finance from University of Texas Permian Basin, but before going back, he heard about a new degree in energy land management, so he went for it.
He has been at Latigo Petroleum since September 2020.
Garcia was among the first group of students to graduate with an energy land management degree.
“With an energy land management degree, you can venture into the landman role, which is like a liaison between the company and the mineral owners; the surface owners. You negotiate leases with them, you can negotiate surface use agreements with them. That’s mostly what it’s tailored for … is the landman,” Garcia said.
A big part of a field landman’s job is to dig through court records to figure out who has clear title to pieces of land.
“That’s a big part of it at least in a field landman’s role. That’s usually what the case may be is going into and out of courthouses to find deed records, figure out the chain of title,” Garcia said. “Usually, it’s if you’re working in minerals, it’ll be from, say, for example 2022, all the way back to … like the early 1900s, late 1800s to figure out who owned this piece of property and how they broke it up.”
However, one of the things he had the most trouble with was reading cursive writing.
“… I guess it wasn’t really instilled in us. … It was taught to us, the cursive writing, but it wasn’t a big part of it,” Garcia said.
And he didn’t need to use cursive.
Still, digging through records could be an issue, especially when the family heirship is always there, “Or things don’t get filed and then you have to dig through tons and tons of records to figure something out,” he said.
Dean of the College of Business Steve Beach was the one who presented Garcia with the opportunity not only for the degree, but an internship with Latigo.
“I thought it was just going to be a six-month deal and then it turned into a full-time position,” Garcia said.
So far, he said, he’s learned a lot more than he thought he was going to, not that he didn’t have high expectations.
“But I’ve been able to see and work with multiple departments, not just the land department. And I’ve been able to learn how all of us can integrate and work together in different aspects of projects,” Garcia said.
And the land management degree prepared him well for his senior landman responsibilities at Latigo.
Born and raised in Odessa, Garcia said his family has lived here a long time. His parents are Jesus and Teresa Garcia and he has an older sister, Yumira Garcia.
He said his family was one of the reasons he was so motivated to go to school, because he is a first-generation graduate.
“And like they always told me, they didn’t always have the opportunities that I had and so they did everything they could to put me through school and to help me with whatever it is I needed. … It didn’t take long for me to see the benefits of it. I don’t have to be working out in the sun or out in the cold like the way most of my family members have to, or not that they have to, but (those were) the cards that were dealt to them, so I’m very grateful for them to have pushed me so hard,” Garcia said.
He worked and went to school at the same time, but did get some scholarships through UTPB, the Permian Basin Landman Association.
“And it’s not only for the land management degree, they can give you a scholarship, whether that’s in economics, or finance, or management, whatever it is that you’re pursuing. As long as you apply (for it) and you’re associated with their organization,” Garcia said.
Math and geology are probably two of the subjects that it helps to be good at if you want to go into land management.
Geographic Information Systems is another thing that helps in Garcia’s profession.
“… That’s probably one of my … favorite ones is the GIS one because it’s pretty cool how you can put all this information into a program and it just spits out a nice map for you and it gives you all the information that you would want and need for your projects,” Garcia said.
You can go down to the most basic layer and then add on to it, or take off layers.
If others are interested in energy land management, Garcia said he would encourage them to attend UTPB for it. Before energy land management was offered, your options were in finance management or accounting and similar fields, he said.
Garcia added that UTPB is more affordable than other universities that offer energy land management.
“… I would definitely encourage anybody that wants to pursue a career in land management to go this route; to do this degree,” he said.
Garcia, 25, and his girlfriend, Krystal, are engaged.
He added that if people are interested in the degree, they should reach out to the Dean of the School of Business or an advisor.
Garcia said some people might say UTPB is not a big, prestigious school.
“… But to me it’s about the affordability because the degree at the end of the day is going to be the same one. It’s going to be four years here, or four years in San Antonio, or Austin wherever it is you decide to go. But to me, it was more about the affordability of the coursework that they offer. Also the balance between the classwork and being able to work and go to school at the same time,” Garcia said.
“They make it very easy to do that as well just because many people that are going to school, I feel like, are also working to pay for it and to support their families. … I just look forward to (continuing) my career here in the Basin. I mean I was born and raised here. I don’t really plan to leave, unless things change, I guess, but I’m just happy to be here honestly,” Garcia said.
Latigo Petroleum President Kirk Edwards said when people like Garcia go to school locally, they tend to stay in the Basin.
“Luckily with Roy, that’s exactly what happened. We were able to test drive him and he test drove us as an intern and then he did so well doing what he did and we have been growing so much at Latigo that he grew straight into that position here,” Edwards said. “We’re very excited for having him, being able to keep him and grow with him going forward.”
Edwards said the Odessa-Midland area is becoming the center of energy, not only for Texas, but the United States and the rest of the world.
“… Finally being based in Midland-Odessa makes a whole lot more sense than being in Houston, or Oklahoma City, or some of these other areas because so much activity is in Texas now and easily half the rigs in the country (are) running here …,” he added.
He said that bodes well for the region and UTPB.
“… We just have to congratulate them (UTPB) and the UT Regents for allowing these kind of programs to be developed and implemented here locally and helping us keep our kids that would normally go to UT Austin or (Texas) A&M to get these kind of degrees that we’re being able to teach those kids here at home and keep them,” Edwards said.
