LANDMAN is entertainment at it’s finest; Sons work adds background interest…..

I put off viewing Taylor Sheridan’s series “Landman” for a year.  I cannot tell you why, having both my sons with extensive experience working in the oil and gas business.  That is a part of this writing that I need to enlighten you on.

The Permian Basin is a large sedimentary basin in the southwestern part of the United States. It is the highest-producing oil field in the US, producing an average of 4.2 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2019. This sedimentary basin is located in western Texas and far-southeastern New Mexico.

For background information, my youngest son Chad began working for the largest independent drilling company in America at age 17, as a gofer for the Vice-President and CEO of the company.  Washing the CEO’s car, cleaning up the office, and doing anything asked by the boss in Oklahoma City.  He turned 19 and went directly to an oil drilling rig the next day, for the rest of the summer, making almost $300 a shift. That is a blue-collar job that starts at 50k a year, with total benefits for an untrained worker. He had proved himself with the drilling company, and his work ethic was exemplary.  Reputation in the oil patch is everything. Working as a “turtle, or worm,” the names for a first-time ruf-nex, he became a regular after a few two-week stints, away from home, living in a motel, near the rig site.   Two weeks, 12 hours on, 12 hours off,  in the summertime, in Oklahoma.  No breaks in that 12-hour shift.  Then you go home for two weeks.  Many do not make the first two weeks, or even the 2nd day.  President Bush, the son, made a few days, and he was cooked. Age is not a factor.  You either like the job or you do not, and even if you do like it, that does not mean your body can take it.  Or your mental side says no, I cannot do this. Chad loved the physical work that pushed the limits, enjoying his job and he fit in with the men on the rig.  No place for weak ass individuals.   With the excitement of a job that was always challenging, dangerous, and full of the unexpected, he worked through the summers of his college years and made great money just in that three-month break from college in the summer.  He ended up as a rig safety manager by age 27, working just under a rig driller, the top man at a drill site.  (a rig can cost upwards of 12 million dollars, and a day’s work on a site can be as expensive for the drilling company as one million.  The driller, using the most up-to-date computer at the site, is much more than a “hole” maker.  This is big time business and costly.  Chad, as his site position, had the say, at any time, to shut the drilling down. It was his responsibilty to make sure the drilling was as safe as possible.  Injuries and death are part of the job, expected at a site when things go sideways, as safety is the number one priority.   His college degree program, safety engineering with an oil field-specific focus, was perfect for him. He was an expert at a young age, and his ability to work with others, as of his ways and means of getting others to do their job, was his strength.

Getting to the series “Landman,” I have only watched the first three hours and have found the setting of the show as another character as of the importance of it.  The oil patch in West Texas, Eastern New Mexico, is home quarterd in the Midland, Odessa Texs area. It covers a huge amount of square miles and it is a significant area of America’s oil and gas production.  To understand how important this industry is, the first hour goes into detail of the subject, as the the show is very informative on the facts.  This program is as much a tutorial on the industry as it is a “soap opra” of the characters of it.  This is a first rate program, and one of the most entertaining   As I progress in the viewing, this now two season series, I will add my thoughts and take.  (first of series on the series LANDMAN.)

All photos by Chad Pahlke.  Copyright 2021  (use is prohibited without approval)