The Real-Life ‘Landman’
Bringing energy to America isn’t all that dramatic, just relentless hard work
API’s new advertisement (below) nails it.
Real-life landmen (title used by both men and women in this role) are behind-the-scenes players – mostly working with landowners to secure drilling rights – in an American oil and natural gas story that is at the heart of economic growth, opportunity and national security.
While we all enjoy dramatic TV shows, the work of providing Americans with affordable, reliable energy that helps ensure our nation’s security is about gritty determination and attention to detail.
Truth be told, a lack of suspense counts as a good day at the office wherever folks in our industry put on hard hats and boots.
Elsewhere on this page, more about the oilfield, the people who make their living there, energy’s importance to America and our industry’s focus on safety.
Energy Builds America
America’s oil and natural gas industry supports nearly 11 million jobs in all 50 states, representing 5.4% of total U.S. employment.
Read more here about the jobs, investment and prosperity that natural gas and oil bring to your state.
According to a PwC analysis, the industry’s investment in America includes wages, taxes, capital investment, and indirect and induced support for jobs in retail, manufacturing, agriculture and other sectors throughout the energy supply chain. Industry contributed nearly $1.8 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2021.
Oil and natural gas accounted for 74% of the energy Americans used in 2023, including more than 90% of the energy used in the transportation sector. Natural gas was the top fuel source for electricity generation.
Important Safety Standards
Safety – or our workers and the environment – is the primary goal of the more than 800 standards API has developed since 1924, covering all aspects of the oil and natural gas industry. This commitment to safety also is seen in the Onshore Safety Alliance, a voluntary industry coalition, that works to advance safety in operations.
Below, a sampling of API standards that focus on onshore operational safety and environmental protection.
- RP 54, Occupational Safety and Health for Oil and Gas Well Drilling and Servicing Operations – Applies to rotary drilling rigs, well servicing rigs, and special services as they relate to operations on location. The latest edition includes: a new section on flowback operations, which is key for safe well testing; revised requirements for facility and site process hazard assessment and mitigation; and introduction of formal risk assessments.
- RP 100-2, Managing Environmental Aspects Associated with Exploration and Production Operations Including Hydraulic Fracturing – Includes recommendations for managing environmental aspects during planning; site selection; logistics; mobilization, rig-up, and demobilization; and stimulation operations; as well as guidance for managing environmental aspects during well construction.
- RP 7HU1, Safe Use of 2-Inch Hammer Unions for Oilfield Applications – Specifications for manufacturing oilfield hammer unions – helping to expand future interoperability of the widely used field equipment and enhancing safety for natural gas and oil industry workers.
- RP 59, Recommended Practice for Well Control Operations – Provides information that can serve as a voluntary industry guide for safe well control operations.
- RP 67, Recommended Practice for Oilfield Explosives Safety – Applies to explosives used in oil and gas well operations, more specifically, explosives used inside the wellbore.
- RP 99, Flash Fire Risk Assessment for the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry – Provides guidance for the upstream oil and gas industry on hazard identification and risk assessment exercises to assess and mitigate the risk of human injury caused by exposure to a flash fire.
- Bull 75L, Guidance Document for the Development of a Safety and Environmental Management System for Onshore Oil and Natural Gas Production Operations and Associated Activities – Provides general information and guidance for the development of a safety and environmental management system (SEMS) for onshore oil and natural gas operations, including drilling, production, and well servicing activities.
- RP 97L, Onshore Well Construction Interface Document – Designed to improve communication between onshore well operators and drilling contractors, to enhance overall safety and environmental management planning.
In Landman Terms
Drill rig job descriptions and terminology:
- Landman – Specialist who negotiates with landowners to securing drilling rights, ensures leases are in place and conducts research on land titles and mineral ownership.
- Roughneck – Honor reserved for top-tier drilling crew members. Performs physically demanding tasks including setting up equipment and maintaining the drill.
- Toolpusher – Drilling rig boss, working under the drilling superintendent or the company contracting the rig.
- Driller – Drilling rig crew supervisor, working under the toolpusher.
- Pumper – Worker who monitors and maintains active oil and natural gas wells.
- Worm – Inexperienced oilfield worker who is not yet a “hand.”
- Christmas tree – An assembly of valves, spools, and fittings that control the flow into or out of a well.
- Mud – Drilling fluid that exerts pressure to prevent naturally occurring liquids and gases from entering the well bore, carries out drill cuttings and keeps the drill bit cool.
- Wellhead – Provides a structural and pressure-containing interface for the drilling and production equipment at the surface of the well. The wellhead is connected to the casing or tubing that runs down the wellbore, and it seals the annular space between the wellbore and the casing or tubing.
- Rig Operator – Responsible for controlling the rig’s drilling equipment, overseeing its operation and ensuring safety protocols are followed.