Billionaire Texas oilman, developer and philanthropist George P Mitchell, considered the father of the oil and gas production technique commonly known as fracking, has died at his home aged 94, his family said.

Mr Mitchell, the son of a Greek immigrant, became one of the wealthiest men in the US. His dogged pursuit of the natural gas he and others knew were trapped in wide, thin layers of rock deep underground brought a new – and enormous – trove of oil and gas within reach.

His controversial breakthrough led to a revolution in oil and gas production in the US, one that is expected to migrate around the world. The US is now the world’s largest producer of natural gas and is on track to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest oil producer by the end of the decade, according to the International Energy Agency.

The fracking boom sent natural gas prices plummeting, reducing energy costs for US consumers and businesses. And by boosting US oil production, it has sharply reduced oil imports.

It has led to a dramatic reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury in the US by replacing coal in electric power generation.

At the same time, some environmentalists worry the fracking process or the disposal of fracking wastewater can leak into drinking water supplies and contaminate them.

Daniel Yergin, the energy historian and author of The Quest: Energy, Security And The Remaking Of The Modern World, said in a statement that Mr Mitchell “changed the world energy outlook in the 21st century and set in motion the global rebalancing of oil and gas that is now occurring”.

Mr Mitchell’s idea was to go directly to the sedimentary rock holding the oil and gas, essentially speeding up geological processes by thousands of millennia.

He figured out how to drill into and then along layers of gas-laden rock, then force a slurry of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into the rock to crack it open and release the hydrocarbons. This process, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, is now common industry practice.

Engineers after Mr Mitchell learned to adapt the process to oil-bearing rock.

A family statement said Mr Mitchell “will be fondly remembered for flying in the face of convention – focusing on what could be, with boundless determination – many times fighting through waves of scepticism and opposition to achieve his vision”.

George Phydias Mitchell and his wife, Cynthia, who died in 2009, had ten children. Their work together was “dedicated to making the world a more hospitable and sustainable place”, their family said.

This year, the annual Forbes list of wealthiest Americans ranked Mr Mitchell 239th with a net worth of two billion dollars (£1.3 billion).

Over his career, he participated in drilling some 10,000 wells. His company, Mitchell Energy & Development, was credited with more than 200 oil and 350 natural gas discoveries. The firm spent nearly two decades developing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, finally finding success in the 1990s.

“There’s no point in mincing words. Some people thought it was stupid,” Dan Steward, a geologist who began working with the natural gas firm Mitchell Energy in 1981, told the Associated Press in an interview last year. Mr Steward estimated in the early years “probably 90 per cent of the people” in the firm did not believe shale gas would be profitable, and that Mr Mitchell’s company did not even cover the cost of fracking on shale tests until the 36th well was drilled. But he credited the company namesake as a tenacious visionary.

“There’s not a lot of companies that would stay with something this long,” he said.

Mr Mitchell sold his energy company in 2002 for 3.1 billion dollars (£2 billion).

wells people

13 Comments on "George P Mitchell known as ‘father of fracking’ dies"

BillT on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 12:48 am 



“dedicated to making the world a more hospitable and sustainable place”

Bullshit! They really turned loose the destruction of most of it. Another person who should have been aborted.

Matt Charles on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 2:16 am 



I wouldn’t declare what Mr. Mitchell did was “bullshit”, he had a vision & stuck with it all the way until he died. Shale gas has proven to be more beneficial environmentally and economically to the US, making them a country who I may add to be dependent heavily on importing, to a production giant of Non-Conventional resources worldwide. May he RIP.

IanC on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 2:48 am 



All that money from exploiting the planet. And he’s still dead.

Worth it?

rollin on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 3:58 am 



If we are smart, we will use the extra time and energy to expand the use of renewable energy and explore CO2 to liquids technology. Also the extra time will allow changes in agriculture that will absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

Since we don’t seem to be acting very smart, the other alternative is moving into a strange kind of stone age existence.

On the surface fracking looks horrible, but it is giving some extra time to make changes. Shame on those in power for wasting the time and energy on BAU.

DC on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 5:46 am 



Even the most destructive and insane technologies or methods, nuclear\fraking whatever, can be ‘profitable’ with enough govt subsidies-and sadly, thanks to the bottomless pit of govt money and looking the other way at their crimes and methods-they are!

Praising this dead guy fraker for being ‘rich’ in a business you literally cannot lose money at, is well…..

Airwicky on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 8:47 am 



The Father of Fracking huh. He’s just another guy from an era of exploitation. There will be a time when these kinds of guys will not be seen as champions but destroyers.

Luke on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 12:31 pm 



The father of fracking died aged, soon the era of fracking will die. This frack father saw CO2 increasing from about 320 till above 400 ppm now. Thanks to massive addiction to fossils. Let’s save this Earth for next generations and adapt our way of life. Ban fossils asap.

Beery on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 12:42 pm 



Perfect timing for him – he died at the peak of the fracking revolution. It’s a pity the rest of us didn’t see him live to regret the damage his methods have caused.

mike on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 1:07 pm 



One less prick in the world.

Norm on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 2:34 pm 



But he had 10 kids. Mitt Romney had 5 this guy is twice worse.

Fulton J. Waterloo on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 2:56 pm 



Also changed his name.Ashamed of his heritage?

DC on Wed, 31st Jul 2013 7:38 pm 



Q/George Phydias Mitchell and his wife, Cynthia, who died in 2009, had ten children. Their work together was “dedicated to making the world a more hospitable and sustainable place”, their family said.

LoL!

-This old a$$hole had 10 kids
-He is a fraker

Neither him, nor his family, could be described as working on making the the world a more hospitable place, and sustainable? I hardly think so. However, in fairness, few people even the 3rd world have so many spawn as this rich old toxic mfer. 10 kids might have been a good idea when only 2 of them might actually live, but unless one of those 10 drives their mercedes of a cliff somewhere, pretty much all 10 are going to make it to the end.

Did this old fool have 2 kids and work on reducing energy consumption, promoting solar, wind and passive techniques his entire life? No in fact, he did the exact opposite. Only in amerikas inverted reality are those that offer destruction and poison praised during and after there lives end.

Arthur on Fri, 2nd Aug 2013 8:13 am 



From his wiki page:

“Mitchell’s roots reached back to Greece, where his father, Savvas Paraskevopoulos, tended goats before immigrating to the United States in 1901”

“According to the National Academies of Science, “In the 1970s [Mitchell] helped sponsor the work of Dennis Meadows, whose Club of Rome study The Limits to Growth was a global wake-up call on the pressing need for sustainable energy technologies and food sources worldwide.””

“Mitchell donated $20 million to create the George and Cynthia Mitchell Endowment for Sustainability Science at the National Academy of Sciences committed to advancing science and technology in support of sustainable development”

Typical American success story… immigrant, very humble origins, starting a shoeshine business and ends up drilling 10000 fracking wells. But is broadminded enough to realize that fracking is not sustainable and needs to be replaced by something else. As rollin suggests, fracking offers a narrow path into a sustainable world, but at great environmental cost.