Hydraulic fracturing of wells (Hugoton)
Fracturación hidráulica de pozos (Hugoton)
- Date
- 1947 · confidence high
- Place
- Grant County, Kansas, United States
- Credited to
- Stanolind Oil and Gas (Floyd Farris) and Halliburton
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A gas well in the Hugoton field was stimulated by injecting gelled gasoline and sand under pressure to open fractures in the rock. It is the first hydraulic fracturing experiment to boost production.
Wells were stimulated with nitroglycerin from 1865 (Roberts); the 1947 experiment is the first use of pressurised fluid considered hydraulic fracturing.
What it led to
- commercial fracturing service from 1949 (Halliburton)
- higher output from low-permeability wells
- the shale gas and oil revolution