Who knew Landman was so informative?
Chances are you’ve felt the effect of rising oil and gas prices in the past couple of weeks. To put things very simply, the conflict and tension in the Middle East has had a negative impact at the pump. Americans and people all across the world are paying about a dollar more per gallon than they were a month ago, and recent attacks on gas fields have sent those prices soaring even higher.
All of it has people wondering why their gas station visits have become pricier, and when they might be able to experience some financial relief. And funny enough, a scene from the hit Taylor Sheridan show Landman is going viral once more for explaining the effects of rises in oil and gas prices.
The clip from Season 1, which shows Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris character giving the rundown on oil barrel prices, has popped up online anytime someone has mentioned high gas prices. Landman doesn’t include current factors such as foreign oil providers like Saudi Arabia and Iraq having trouble getting oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, but it does explain oil pricing very well.
This morning, Trump has told reporters that he’s been in direct conversations with Iran, which has seemingly caused prices to drop quite a bit (below $87 right now), but for the past week or so, a barrel of oil was running up around $100 a barrel:
And in Tommy Norris’ rant, he explains why that causes such an issue:
“You want oil to live above $60, but below $90. And don’t get me wrong, we’re still printing money at $90, but gas gets up over $3.50 a gallon, it starts to pinch. If it’s $100, every product in America has to readjust its price. Seventy-eight dollars a barrel, that’s about perfect.
It brings enough profit to keep exploring, but doesn’t sting as much at the pump, unless, of course, you’re in California. I mean, they tax the s-it out of it out there. It could be $45 a barrel and it’s still $4 a pump. I don’t know how those sons-of-b*tches do it.”
Though that last part about California is very state-specific, the portion just before it – about gas getting over $3.50 a gallon – is true. Currently, the national average is just shy of $4… sitting right now at $3.95 per gallon. That’s definitely caused a pinch, and caused anything that requires fuel to go up in price.
The scene also mentions something called a “bust,” where oil drum prices plummet after skyrocketing. That can bring relief to consumers, but hurts those in the oil and gas business, as Tommy Norris explained:
“2020, a barrel of oil was worthless. This place became a ghost town. And nobody’s immune. Kids have to quit college. Trucks get sold or repo’d. Houses too. People quit going to the doctor ’cause they lost their insurance. Yeah, a bust affects everything in a town like this. The smart ones, they pay cash for everything, and then cycle way enough to ride out to troughs. But there ain’t that many smart ones
And if you think that’s just Hollywood bull or big oil propaganda… here’s some modern day thoughts that mirror almost exactly what Tommy said in the clip:
And though Landman may be a fictional show, referencing 2020 as the last time a major bust occurred is very much a real world thing.
During the COVID pandemic, oil barrels were worth less than $37 a piece. That obviously caused gas prices to plummett… but came at a time where not a whole lot of people were using gas anyways.
