Chad Hughes welcomes Andrew Fulford, Surface Land Manager of Birchcliff Energy, to the show to talk about Birchcliff’s unique culture and his thirty-plus-year career. Andrew, who got into the industry by going to Olds College in what was then called the Land Agent Program, got offered his role at Birchcliff twelve years ago, and he reflects on changes in his career and the industry while offering advice to newcomers in the surface land business.
Andrew discusses how the always-changing industry offers a lot of opportunity for growth in a career due to the progress and new skill sets required with the shifts. He says it does lead to being a bit of a jack of all trades and includes project management as one of his roles now. One of the things he learned very recently was the role of Indigenous relations when he not only needed to understand the new consultation regulations, but also become immersed in Indigenous history and culture so he could adapt to their way of doing business.

Chad and Andrew talk about company culture and what makes Birchcliff so unique and positive. Andrew highlights the relationships frontline people form with communities and the smooth communication they develop. He reflects on how much things have changed in the industry and how the training now would be substantially different than when he first started. His advice to people looking for a career in the industry is to learn about the whole industry, not just land.

“… when you first get into the surface land business, if you’re passionate about it … I say to people, go to where you will learn the most. Go to those. Look for those places where you will gain the most skills and diverse skills. Don’t just focus on one. It may not be the best-paying job that you take off the start, but it’s probably the one that’s where you’re going to learn the most, and it’s probably going to take you away from home for longer periods of time. I spent a good part of the first part of my career, you know, behind the wheel of a vehicle and sometimes away from home for 1 to 2 weeks at a time… but I’ll tell you what. It paid off in spades towards the latter part of my career. And the skills that I built and the understanding that I had about the business when I did that.” – Andrew Fulford

About Andrew Fulford:

Andrew is the Surface Land Manager for Birchcliff Energy, responsible for surface land access, community and stakeholder engagement, indigenous relations and managing a team of 5 surface professionals.

He graduated Olds College in 1986 with a Land Agent diploma and over the next dozen years worked as a consulting landman for several land brokers and a royalty trust company. In the late 90’s he moved “in-house” to the role of Senior Surface Landman for PanCanadian Petroleum, a major exploration and production company which later merged with Alberta Energy Corp. to become into EnCana Corporation. Here he managed a one of the surface land teams focused on Coal Bed Methane development in southern Alberta. In 2012 he moved to his present role at Birchcliff Energy Ltd. an intermediate oil and natural gas company based in Calgary with operations focused on the Montney/Doig resources play in north western Alberta.

With over 35 years in the land industry, he has been involved with a diverse variety of projects across all 4 western provinces including acquisition of linear right of ways for powerlines, natural gas and telecom, wellsites, gathering systems and gas processing facilities, freehold and crown mineral land projects, stakeholder and indigenous relations and crown surface land disposition acquisitions.

He has worked with the Southern Alberta Institute for Technology to help update and develop their Surface Land Management Course which he also taught for a number of years and has also developed and taught short courses for CAPL and CAPLA (now CALEP and LEMAC) over the past 15 years.

Additionally, he has volunteered on various industry committee which presently include the CALEP – Field Acquisition Management Committee and the Olds College, Surface Land Management Program – Industry Advisory Committee.