Energy · 1947

Hydraulic fracturing

Pressurized fluid cracks rock to free trapped oil and gas.

Stanolind Oil ran the first experimental frac in the Hugoton field in Kansas in 1947, and Halliburton offered it commercially from 1949. It was a modest well-stimulation tool for decades before horizontal drilling made it transformative.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Oil drilling 1859

What it led to 1

Shale gas revolution 1998

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Crude oil price since 1861 Latest: 435 current US$ per m3 (2025) Source: Our World in Data

Fossil fuel consumption Latest: 144k TWh (2025) Source: Our World in Data