LandmanLife

Books that Stand the Test of Time, My All Time Favorites

The Books That Stand the Test of Time Fiction Non-Fiction Oil Industry Business Fiction The Rum Diary I’ve read a lot of Hunter S. Thompson, but something about this short novel has always really appealed to me. There isn’t much of a purpose but it’s a well written story. Maybe it’s the lack of direction …

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How Landmen Have Changed: The Badass Motherfuckers Before Us

The Badass Motherfuckers Before Us Can you think of a more quintessential American career than being a landman? We make a living from our wit, intellect, and our ability to adapt to the ever changing landscape of the oil and gas industry. Landmen used to be the one man do it all character at the …

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Loyalty Demanded but not Returned

Demanding Loyalty In Return For..? Brokers demand loyalty from the landmen that work for them. “You give us 8 hours in the day.” They will nickel and dime for how much that is worth and pocket the difference. Some brokers will turn their landmen into the AAPL for “ethics violations” if they find out you …

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The Broken System – Time to Burn it Down

The other day when I was contemplating the idea of a broken system I had the random thought that…the system works for the prior generation. They set it up. We’re just stuck with it. When you can’t even speak honestly amongst your friends, or let them know who you’re meeting with, we have a fucking …

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How to Find Your Voice in a Broken System

Make sure you check out some of our most recent posts below to catch up on the new direction we’re headed: Finding Your Voice It’s taken me well over a decade to find my voice here. A majority of that time I was voicing my dissent under the veil of secrecy. Screaming into the void, …

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How the Shale Boom Ruined Landmen

The Shale Boom of the early 2010s created an exorbitant demand for landmen, which resulted in more landmen, higher day rates, and far more work than ever before. However, when the Boom suddenly ended, and the market crashed back to reality, many of these so-called “warm bodies” simply washed out of the industry. Crews of …

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The Circle of Landman Life – How Landmen Are Made

This is a story about how landmen are made. Back when I was in college/just out of college, we watched True Blood on HBO. It came on after Entourage. I guess vampires and werewolves were all the rage back then. Anyways, sometime in the first or second season there was a scene where a new …

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What Happens When You Hit a Career Dead End? The Last Landman

The year is 2030, and landmen have gone extinct. They hit a career dead end. Fossil fuels are being rejected all over the world, replaced and displaced by less efficient and more expensive “renewable” or “greener” energy. After decades of being the oil and gas industry’s punching bags, there have been no new landmen born …

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Life Comes At You Fast

It’s August 19, 2023 and during this month alone (so far), I’ve posted 15 times (this post will make it 16). Since the last time I rebooted the site, which was sometime in early 2019, I have posted/re-posted 110 total posts. That means this month alone has accounted for over 13% of the total posts. …

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The Value of a Professional Image

Everybody’s Doing It When the Shale Boom started, most landmen were required to join AAPL so brokers could say “all our contractors adhere to the ethical standards set forth by AAPL.” It was a marketing gimick. Then we were all required to have our own LLCs. That was a liability gimick. We’re still doing those …

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