A new Paramount+ series from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan is shining a light on the contributions of oil and gas industry workers—namely landmen. Landmen are viewed as the public face of the energy industry—be it oil, gas, or mining—who work with landowners to obtain drilling rights.
“Landman,” which premiered on November 17th, is adapted from Boomtown—a Texas Monthly podcast that ran from 2019 to 2020. The show is centered on the Permian Basin, America’s largest oil field, and boasts a star-studded cast including Billy Bob Thornton as the lead landman Tommy Norris.
Clips from the show have already gone viral—including one scene where Thornton’s character exposes the paradox of wind turbines ironically being dependent on oil and gas:
You have any idea how much diesel we had to burn to mix that much concrete? Or make that steel? Or haul this [stuff] out here and put it together with a 450-foot crane? You want to guess how much oil it takes to lubricate that … [windmill]? Or winterize it? In its 20-year lifespan, it won’t offset the carbon footprint of making it. And don’t even get me started on solar panels and the lithium in your Tesla batteries.
And never mind the fact that if the whole world decided to go electric tomorrow, we don’t have the transmission lines to get the electricity to the cities. It’d take 30 years if we started tomorrow. And unfortunately for your grandkids, we have a 120-year petroleum-based infrastructure. Our whole lives depend on it. And hell, it’s in everything.
The show’s lead character is correct. Despite the Biden-Harris administration’s push to decarbonize our economy, Americans heavily rely on oil and gas byproducts for everyday life—well beyond fuel, transportation, and electricity.
Until “Landman,” Hollywood hasn’t been kind to the oil and gas industry. Films like Promised Land (2012) and Deepwater Horizon (2016) showed the worst aspects—the rare disasters—and tried to portray their contributions in a negative light.
Mike Sommers, American Petroleum Institute (API) president, said “Landman” “gets a lot right about the commitment of the men and women who work in the American oil and natural gas industry.”
America’s oil and gas industry supports nearly 11 million jobs—or 5.6% of total U.S. employment. The most available data estimates the industry’s gross domestic product (GDP) to be around $1.8 trillion.
Although there is record oil and gas production today, it’s attributed to supply and demand and not a favorable regulatory environment by the Biden-Harris administration. As a result, the incoming second Trump administration is promising to “drill baby drill” and shore up natural gas production come January 20th, 2025.
The creation of the inaugural National Energy Council—to be chaired by Interior Secretary-designate Doug Burgum and co-managed with Energy Secretary-designate Chris Wright—promises to cut red tape, enhance private sector energy investments, and focus on innovation over regulation.
To learn more about the staying power of the U.S. oil and gas industry, go HERE.