Don’t wait until the paperwork hits your desk to think about automation.
For oil and gas teams running A&D deals across Canada and the U.S., the challenge isn’t just closing them, it’s making sure you can actually use what you just bought without spending months untangling files.
We’ve worked with operators caught in this cycle, and we feel for them. Constant handoffs drain resources and willpower. Files arrive out of order with inconsistent naming conventions and missing key details.
If you’re still hand-compiling land files in the age of AI… we need to talk. Oil and gas asset transfer automation will change the way you do business.
Lesson 1: Just because you have the data doesn’t mean you have the facts
In most A&D deals, the documents show up fast and unfiltered. Maybe you get zipped folders. Maybe it’s a box of thumb drives. The issue isn’t always a lack of data. It’s that no one knows what’s in the pile.
You inherit folders labeled “Bob’s Wells,” files named “Agreement_FINAL_v7” and “Agreement_ACTUAL_FINAL_v8,” and spreadsheets that reference wells by nicknames only the previous operator understood.
In those files is the history your team needs to run the asset. Critical details slip through if that context isn’t searchable, tagged, or clearly labeled. And when they do, mistakes follow.
For example, in operations:
A field team replaces a pump, unaware that the last operator already learned not to land it too low. That decision shortens equipment life and causes avoidable downtime. No one flagged it. No one remembered. The document with that detail existed, but it wasn’t usable.
For example, in land:
A lease with a 14-day maximum cessation period goes unnoticed. The clause was buried in a document. The team misses it and risks losing a high-value tract. By the time the error surfaces, it’s too late.
With StackDX Document Management, your team can:
Clean up and structure incoming data:
- Ingest digital and physical files in bulk
- Extract lease terms, expiry dates, and payment triggers
Make scanned and handwritten documents searchable
Tag records to the correct well, lease, or agreement - Audit the data received to identify missing or misfiled documents
- Apply AI-based labels and metadata to standardize document types
Quickly access what matters:
- Use search that makes it easy to find files by keyword, asset, or clause
- Summarize complex agreements using LLMs to help staff get up to speed fast
Lesson 2: Knowing what you own is different than knowing what it’s worth
Once the documents are cleaned up and tagged, the next question is what’s happening around you. You may have a multi-year development plan approved, but if your competitor is drilling next door or quietly acquiring nearby assets, you may be operating without critical context. Keeping pace with the market matters just as much as understanding what’s already in your system.
Market and asset intelligence provides that outside-in view. It aggregates land transfers, license updates, drilling activity, and public financial data to help teams make better decisions in real time. It extends the value of oil and gas asset transfer automation by combining internal clarity with external awareness.
With StackDX Market & Asset Intelligence, your team can:
- Track mineral rights transfers, well licenses, and land sales in your focus areas
- Set custom alerts to monitor competitor movement and asset activity without manual effort
- Visualize drilling and transfer activity on interactive maps to spot patterns and risks
- Benchmark your own asset performance against public operators and peer companies
- Identify potential acquisition targets based on real-time data, not quarterly reports
Lesson 3: You’re likely still doing by hand what StackDX already automates
Too many land workflows still depend on spreadsheets, saved files, and calendar reminders. That manual effort doesn’t just slow teams down. It makes it harder to stay compliant.
When lease expiries, road use billing audits, and production held leases aren’t tracked in a consistent system, deadlines get missed and agreements fall through the cracks. Although time savings is a major plus, manual processes put the assets you worked hard to acquire at risk of non-compliance.
With StackDX Workflows, your team can:
- Track lease expiries and assign reviews across Land, Geology, and Engineering
- Manage road use agreements from request through execution and billing
- Monitor well activity tied to lease obligations, like held-by-production status
- Maintain visibility and accountability across every step of the process
Putting it into practice: What getting it right actually looks like
Tourmaline’s acquisition of Bonavista came with more than 500,000 land and well files and over 6,000 licenses across Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. The stakes were high. Drilling and completions activity was already in motion, and delays caused by inaccessible data could have stalled field execution. Just as critical, missing a lease expiry or overlooking a “held by production” provision could have led to losing key mineral rights and undermining the value of the entire deal.
Using StackDX, Tourmaline processed the entire acquisition package in 48 hours. The platform uploaded, indexed, and structured the data while surfacing gaps and inconsistencies for review.
With StackDX, Tourmaline was able to:
- Match and transfer 6,183 well licenses with full traceability
- Flag and resolve naming mismatches that could have caused downstream issues
- Standardize inherited road use agreements and reissue them at scale using Stack Roads
What made the difference wasn’t just the speed. It was the ability to move fast without second-guessing the result. Teams had what they needed, tied to the right assets, ready to go. Can you imagine a land team doing that by hand and still keeping pace with the next deal?
What to look for when automating complex oil and gas workflows like A&D
The goal of oil and gas asset transfer automation isn’t just to move faster. It’s to reduce the friction between what you acquire and how quickly your teams can work with it.
The right system helps land identify risks before the deal closes. It gives ops the clarity to move forward without hesitation. It gives accounting a full view of obligations and revenue without months of cleanup. And it does all of that without pulling people off of their strategic work.
When your process is consistent, your teams stop resetting with every transaction. They carry what they’ve already built into the next deal.
That’s the difference. It’s not just about speed. It’s about knowing exactly what you’re walking into and being ready to act on day one.
