Black Gold is a documentary-style reality television series that chronicles three oil drilling rigs in Andrews County, Texas, 30 miles northwest of Odessa. The title "Black Gold" comes from a slang term for oil.

First Season

The first season follows three rigs—Longhorn, Viking, and Big Dog—that have only 50 days to successfully locate and retrieve the crude oil. The roughnecks, as they are called on the rig, endure exhausting, dangerous work demands and face debilitating injury, permanent disfigurement or even death. Oil rigs Longhorn and Viking are funded by wildcatter Mike Lamonica while the Big Dog is funded by wildcatter Autry Stevens, both of whom have put up millions of dollars in hopes of finding new deposits of oil. The show also features pipe salesman Michael “Rooster” McConaughey, brother of actor Matthew McConaughey.

Second Season

The second season only follows one rig from the previous season, Big Dog rig number 28, owned by Autry Stevens. The season is centered around the requirement given by Stevens to finish four wells in 50 days in order to maintain the lease on the land. One notable returning character is Gerald Williams, who was fired in the previous season.

The "Black Gold" theme song is sung by country music star Trace Adkins.

"Black Gold" airs Wednesday nights on truTV at 10pm. It is also shown sometimes as a special presentation on TNT in high definition. It is produced by Thom Beers, creator of "Deadliest Catch" and "Ice Road Truckers."

Starting 8 April 2009, the show also airs in the United Kingdom on Five, under the title "Oil Riggers".

References

External links

• truTV's "Black Gold" website