Who Owns Boots & Coots?

Boots Hansen and Coots Matthews founded Boots & Coots in Houston in 1978. Both were legendary well control specialists who had trained under Red Adair, the industry's most famous well firefighter. The company's name combined the founders' nicknames.

Boots & Coots built its reputation on the most dangerous work in oilfield services: controlling blowouts, extinguishing well fires, and capping runaway wells. The firm's specialty was emergency response, but it expanded into preventive well control engineering, snubbing, and hydraulic workover services.

The brand achieved global fame in 1991 when it joined the multinational effort to extinguish more than 600 oil well fires set by retreating Iraqi forces in Kuwait, one of the largest well control operations in history. The work was chronicled in the IMAX film "Fires of Kuwait" (1992).

Dresser Industries acquired Boots & Coots, and when Halliburton bought Dresser in 1998, the well control specialists became part of the Halliburton portfolio. The line has operated continuously since, handling well control emergencies worldwide.

Under Halliburton, Boots & Coots continues as the well control and intervention specialist, covering emergency blowout response, well integrity assessment, and preventive control services.