Erle P. Halliburton
Co-founder 1919Background
Erle Palmer Halliburton was born on September 22, 1892, on a farm near Henning, Tennessee. After his father died when Erle was 14, he left home to work various jobs and eventually joined the U.S. Navy in 1910. Honorably discharged in 1915, he found work with the Perkins Oil Well Cementing Company in California, where his constant suggestions for improving the cementing process led to his being fired. Halliburton later said that 'the two best things that ever happened to me were being hired, and fired, by the Perkins Oil Well Cementing Company.' In 1919, he and his wife Vida moved to Burkburnett, Texas, where he introduced oil-well cementing with his new and improved method. The couple worked with borrowed equipment and little cash, at one point pawning Vida's wedding rings to pay hired help. Vida hand-washed cement sacks so they could be resold.
Role at Halliburton Company
Halliburton possesses a gritty, pragmatic founding story, rooted in the chaotic oil booms of the early 20th century American Southwest and built entirely upon a single, technological innovation that altered oil extraction. The company was founded in 1919 in Duncan, Oklahoma, by Erle P. Halliburton. Halliburton was a driven, practical man who had previously served in the US Navy (where he gained engineering experience) and briefly worked for the Perkins Oil Well Cementing Company in California (where he was fired for suggesting too many improvements). Halliburton moved to the rapid, oil fields of Burkburnett, Texas, and formed the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company. At the time, drilling for oil was dangerous and inefficient. Water from underground aquifers constantly leaked into the oil wells, ruining the production and frequently causing catastrophic blowouts. Halliburton's foundational key move was perfecting the process of 'oil well cementing.' He invented complex methods to pump amounts of specialized cement down into the well casing, sealing off the water and stabilizing the well. His process was so successful and reliable that it quickly became the industry standard. He patented his inventions (like the jet mixer) and expanded his operations, officially incorporating the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company in 1924. By solving the most destructive problem in early oil extraction, Erle Halliburton transformed a dangerous, scrappy Oklahoma cementing operation into the foundational, indispensable engineering backbone of the entire global energy industry. Erle P. Halliburton was born in 1892.