Fracking Pays! Frac Tech Floats IPO to Raise $1.15B

Even though “fracking” – a reference to hydraulic fracturing – has become a dirty word for some, it’s certainly a good business to be in. Frac Tech International is one such company in the business of providing fracking services to oil and gas drillers. Just 11 years old and with yearly revenues exceeding a billion dollars, Frac Tech is set to float shares of stock and become a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company plans to change its name to FTS International and wants to raise $1.15 billion in an initial public offering (IPO).

Founded in 2000, Frac Tech has corporate offices in Carter Burgess Plaza in downtown Fort Worth and in Cisco, near Abilene. The company has 3,900 employees, including 700 in Tarrant and Parker counties, spokeswoman Pam Percival said.

In its prospectus, the company reported 2010 revenue of $1.28 billion, up from $214.4 million in 2006. Net profit grew to $368.6 million from $82.4 million during that time. Frac Tech said it fractured 1,374 wells in 2010, compared with 398 in 2006.

Hydraulic fracturing involves injecting water, sand and chemicals at high pressure deep into the ground to break up shale and other rock formations. The company said its largest market shares are in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and East Texas; the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas; and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It also has significant business in the Permian Basin in West Texas and the Bakken Shale in the Dakotas and Montana.

Its largest customers include XTO Energy and Range Resources.

Frac Tech said it has benefited from a "dramatic increase" in horizontal drilling and increases in the number of hydraulic fracturing stages per well, shale drilling in general, and international drilling.*

*American Chronicle/Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Sep 13, 2011) – Frac Tech plans IPO, seeks to raise $1.15 billion