Who Owns Halliburton?

Erle P. Halliburton founded the company in 1919 in Duncan, Oklahoma, around his patented method for cementing oil well casings, a technology that solved well integrity problems plaguing early drilling. The Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company became the cementing standard and expanded into international markets by the 1940s.

Through the twentieth century, Halliburton grew into a full-service oilfield company, expanding beyond cementing into fracturing, drilling services, and completion. The 1962 acquisition of Brown & Root added engineering and construction capabilities that would later form KBR.

The 1998 acquisition of Dresser Industries was transformative, adding Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, Baroid drilling fluids, and Landmark Graphics software, most of which remain core product lines today. The deal briefly made Halliburton the largest oilfield services company before SLB's later expansion.

Halliburton's engineering arm KBR became entangled in Iraq War-era contracting controversy and was separated in 2007. The failed $34.6 billion Baker Hughes acquisition (announced 2014, collapsed 2016 over antitrust) cost a $3.5 billion breakup fee and left Halliburton to compete at its current scale.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, for which Halliburton provided cementing services, resulted in a $1.1 billion legal settlement in 2014, though courts assigned primary responsibility to BP. The event remains the brand's most significant reputational event.

Under CEO Jeffrey Miller, Halliburton has emphasized technology including its LOGIX autonomous drilling platform and Zeus electric fracturing fleets, while maintaining market leadership in North American pressure pumping and completion services.