From the creator of Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers comesone of the most explosive, relevant and thrilling original series of the year.truTV’s BLACK GOLD, premiering Wednesday, June 18, at 10 p.m. (ET), follows the high-stakes world of drilling for oil in west Texas.With the ever-increasing tensions from rising gas prices and dependency on foreign oil, BLACK GOLD goes inside the world of men who risk their lives drilling for American crude.It’s a multimillion-dollar race to tap into the nation’s last remaining reserves, and BLACK GOLD presents an unfiltered look at lives on the line.

It costs oil men millions of dollars to drill two miles into the Earth in search of crude, and every second can lead to boom or bust.Each one-hour episode of BLACK GOLD focuses on oil rigs and the men who hope to strike it rich.With only 50 days to successfully locate and retrieve the precious commodity, the roughnecks, as they are called on the rig, endure exhausting, dangerous work demands and face losing something more valuable than the money of the oil men.They risk losing their own lives.It all adds up to big risk, big reward, big characters and most of all big business.

BLACK GOLD gives viewers front-row seats to three different rigs – Longhorn, Viking and Big Dog – funded by two oilmen who have risked their fortunes in hopes of striking it big and keeping the drill bits turning.In the end is the moment of truth – was it all worth it?  It’s a multi-million dollar roll of the dice. With enough time to drill only three wells, they have to contend not only with such elements as scorching heat and sudden lightning storms, but also the danger of working on the rig itself, where anything can go wrong at any moment and at every turn.

Each rig is led by the driller, who takes care of everything from mechanical issues to manpower problems.The most challenging part for drillers is finding men brave enough to lift and move tons of  iron and trying to ensure that these hard-partying roughnecks will actually show up for work.For many drillers, most of their time is spent trying to teach their most inexperienced roughnecks – or worms as they’re called in the oilfield – how to survive on a rig and how to avoid getting hit with iron pipes flying around.Drillers know that just one wrong move can cost a man his finger, his arm or even his life.

The oil boom has brought the 60-year-old Longhorn rig out of retirement.Gerald, an old-school driller, with 32 years of experience and a hand missing half a thumb from a long ago mishap, leads the rig and expects a lot from his crew.He isn’t afraid to tell them when they’re not cutting it.

Just 500 yards away is the brand-new Viking rig, where the technology and the men in charge are a very different sort.While Gerald, a tough leader who has only nine toes left, barks at his roughnecks, Viking driller Wayne treats his young crew like his family.Both Longhorn and Viking are drilling for oilman Mike LaMonica and his upstart company, ExL Petroleum.Mike’s eager to cash in on the high prices being paid for crude, but if this play doesn’t work out, it could put them under.

The final rig is the Big Dog.Its name fits since it’s larger than the competition and unlike the other rigs, Big Dog driller Tim, does not have decades of experience. Big Dog is drilling for local legend Autry Stephens, who is one of the most successful independent oilmen in West Texas. If drilling isn’t being done the way he wants, he’ll get involved and things will change.

Two of the three rigs featured in the series are contracted by Mike’s company, ExL Petroleum.When he’s not gambling on oil wells, Mike is a Catholic deacon on weekends.With a boom going on, Mike and his partners have launched their new company among fierce, intense competition.Mike’s religious background gives him faith that his company will make it.

Finally, the series will also profile Rooster McConaughey, whose position is Pipe salesman. Rooster was born in Houston, Texas.His real name is Michael Patrick McConaughey, and his company, called DGM Pipe (named for his ex-wife), supplies pipe to the rigs, which often require 300 30-foot sections.His father owned a gas station and was also in the pipe business.He has been working with Mike LaMonica since 1989, when Mike was at a different company.Rooster has supplied the pipe to Mike’s new company, ExL Petroleum, since they opened for business two and a half years ago.When the oil business was going through a bust, Rooster lost everything and renamed his company Chapter 11 Pipe.

BLACK GOLD comes to truTV from executive producer Thom Beers and Beers' Original Productions.  Co-executive producer is Philip D. Segal and series producer is Michael Gara. For truTV, Robyn Hutt serves as executive in charge of production, Angel Annussek is executive producer and Paul Bourdett is coordinating producer.

truTV is television’s destination for real-life stories told from an exciting and dramatic first-person perspective.  Currently seen in 91 million U.S. households and enjoying more than a year of solid and consistent ratings growth, truTV features high-stakes, action-packed originals that give viewers access to places and situations they can’t normally experience.  Among truTV’s primetime fan favorites are the original series Forensic Files, Ocean Force, Haunting Evidence, Psychic Detectives, Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice and Speeders.  During the daytime, the channel features expert trial coverage under the name IN SESSION.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

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