Designed to increase well productivity, this method used jellied gasoline, which was pumped under pressure into the bottom of a well to split the rock formation. The resulting crack was then propped open with quantities of sand, making penetration of tight rock formations easier. The Hydrafrac process made it possible to rejuvenate many dwindling oil wells and reduced the number of sites necessary to drain a field.
Between and , the company expanded in all directions. Drilling activity increased dramatically. The company had 7, employees, and drills probed to more than 4, feet in an average well, as compared to 3, feet five years earlier. Offered for rental as well as for sale, equipment then included formation testing tools to obtain fluids and pressure readings from oil-bearing rock, plus other new equipment used in well completion operations.
Wall cleaners, depth measuring equipment, and production packers were other lines that drillers could rent or buy. Services provided by the company included electronic logging and sidewall wellcoring and the transporting of cement and fracturing sands to drilling sites from nearby Halliburton storage areas.
There were almost operating centers in the United States, as well as 32 service locations in Canada and subsidiaries in Venezuela and Peru. Research and development kept the company at the forefront of oil exploration technology. Erle Halliburton died in , after 28 years as company president and ten as chairman.
The same year saw the acquisition of Welex Jet Services. Originally based in Fort Worth, Texas, Welex broadened the Halliburton line of electronic testing and logging services. Other companies were acquired during this time, including Jet Research Center and FreightMaster, a maker of rail car couplings.
The end of the war had brought an increased demand for oil. Due partly to freedom from wartime price controls and partly to the technological advancement that brought plastics, synthetic fibers, fertilizers, and other petrochemical products into daily life in the United States, these demands were willingly fed by the oil drillers.
Production almost doubled between and , reaching a level of 2. Such overexpansion came to a head in when a slump followed, bringing with it a corresponding decrease in the demand for exploration equipment. Because Halliburton was chiefly a supplier of drilling-related services, however, recovery was relatively swift. These services, plus the equipment required to implement them, were needed both for the deeper wells then being drilled and for stimulation of existing sites.
Offsetting the oil exploration slump, Halliburton continued with its acquisition program. Otis Engineering Corporation joined the company in Other Brown subsidiaries acquired at the same time were Southwestern Pipe, a manufacturer of explosives and thin-walled pipe; Joe B.
Hughes, a trucking business; and Highlands Insurance Company, chiefly concerned with casualty insurance. Together, the four new subsidiaries broadened Halliburton's product and service lines, giving the company entry into many overseas markets and providing ways to adapt Halliburton skills to new purposes. Two company staples quickly found new uses: blended cement was now sold for building projects and thin-walled pipes for playground equipment and bicycles. By , Halliburton's acquisitions program resulted in 16 units that were autonomous but closely coordinated into three main areas.
One division was oil-field services and sales. The third division, specialty sales and services to general industry, included power supply units and transformers for the electronics industry, missile cleaning for defense, and, through two subsidiaries, insurance. Earnings reflected the company's steady growth. In the s, offshore oil exploration became a major activity. Successfully undertaken in the Gulf of Mexico since , offshore drilling produced about 12, wells by , accounting for approximately 15 percent of U.
The company had developed an automated mixing system for drilling mud, a process that was used in offshore operations. Designed to cut costs by monitoring and controlling fluid density, the new system came in tandem with a 50 percent interest in IMC Drilling Mud, a company with special emphasis on overseas expansion. In , the company's marine capabilities were broadened further by the acquisition of Jackson Marine Corporation, a Texas company specializing in the construction of vessels for offshore petroleum exploration, and the purchase of an 80 percent interest in New Orleans-based Taylor Diving and Salvage Company.
The latter company proved its worth within a year by developing an underwater chamber that could be lowered to depths of feet, then pumped dry. It was used for the undersea repair of damaged pipes. Other profitable ventures were hydraulic cushioning for railroad cars, electronics and explosives for the defense and aerospace industries, plant and road construction, transportation, and pollution control.
Destined for permanent importance, concern for the environment had attracted national attention a year earlier after a well eruption in California's Santa Barbara channel spilled 10, barrels of oil. Outrage over the resulting square-mile oil slick hampered offshore exploration, as well as the construction of oil refineries and nuclear power plants. As could be expected, oil imports rose. Nevertheless, Halliburton's profits steadily climbed. Acquisitions giving the company new entry into overseas markets encouraged industrial variety.
The reconditioning and stimulation of older wells then became more profitable than it had ever been before, especially as the equipment the company used for its own projects was not available on the open market.
Lucrative as oil-field services were, however, they were now contributing a smaller proportion to the company's total revenues. A larger part came from construction projects like steel mills, paper mills, and municipal construction. The Halliburton corporate structure was relatively simple. In the s, although the company had 55, employees worldwide, the Dallas headquarters housed fewer than 30 people, and day-to-day activities were handled by each segment.
Operations were still divided into three main segments: oil-field services and products, producing 46 percent of 's total earnings; engineering and construction, contributing a 51 percent share; and specialty services and products, responsible for the remaining 3 percent.
Each of these three groups had several internal divisions, themselves divided into several hundred profit centers run by field managers. Headquarters kept in touch with these field managers in a monthly reporting system that monitored specified financial goals. By , Halliburton had 40 subsidiaries in all parts of the world, most of which were smoothly fitted into their appropriate company segments.
Its merger led to a Justice Department antitrust suit claiming unfair competition. Dick Cheney lobbied to remove Congressional sanctions against aid to Azerbaijan, sanctions imposed because of concerns about ethnic cleansing. Cheney said the sanctions were the result only of groundless campaigning by the Armenian-American lobby.
The post-Suharto government during a purging of corruptly awarded contracts canceled one of its contracts. Even with the Act in place, Halliburton has continued to operate in Iran. Dick Cheney cites multilateral sanctions against Iraq as an example of sanctions he supports. He can be reached at: jasonleopold hotmail. New from CounterPunch. Jeffrey St. Clair Roaming Charges: General of Deception. Contact Us Press Room.
Erle P. Halliburton The founder of the Halliburton Company, a worldwide oil-field services and products company, Erle Palmer Halliburton was a pioneer in oil-well cementing. After his father died, Erle Halliburton found himself in the position of helping support his mother, sister, and four brothers. At age fourteen he left home to work at various jobs. He joined the U. Navy in Honorably discharged from service in , Halliburton found work with Almond A. Halliburton's constant suggestions for improving Perkins's oil-well cementing process were most unwelcome and eventually led to his being fired.
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