“The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights”

How the son of a goat farmer went from selling stationery to building a city that is now home to the world’s largest energy companies.

A thread (1/22)

George Phydias Mitchell was born in 1919 to Greek immigrant, Savvas Paraskevopoulos, in Galveston, TX.

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Savvas, with no land and limited English, immigrated through Ellis Island and quickly became a railroad laborer after he disembarked.

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Frustrated by inability to spell Paraskevopoulos on documents, the rail supervisor - Mike Mitchell - commanded that Savvas change his name.

In egotistical manner, the supervisor demanded that “from now on, your name is mine” and Savvas changed his name to...Mike Mitchell

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Mike left his sociopathic boss, but kept his name, and made his way to Galveston, where he had four children; the third was George - named after the great sculptor of classical Greece

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George studied Engineering at Texas A&M, selling gold embroidered stationery to homesick Freshman to pay for college. After WWII, George began consulting on oil&gas drilling projects in Houston, earning a reputation for being able to pick productive drilling locations

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George convinced himself that it wasn’t just luck, and George and his brother decided to gamble it all and start wildcatting. In 1946 they founded their first company with the not-so-creative name: Oil Drilling Inc

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But because George couldn’t afford the library fees for land maps, he convinced a local firm to let him borrow the maps and logs during nights. George’s brother, Johnny, began raising money around town. They raised $50/month and received 1/32 of the profits of each well

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George and Johnny got good at picking spots and drilling for natural gas. The Mitchells piped their products to Chicago, where the region was seeing growing energy demand. But gas prices were low, and no one could make money on gas with conventional drilling techniques

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Nevertheless, George continued to acquire land in Texas and Louisiana, risking insolvency if the assets didn’t produce.

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And unfortunately, they didn’t produce.

The rock was too dense, and natural gas couldn’t flow through to the surface.

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But Mitchell knew that there could be a workaround.

In the 1930s, oil workers experimented with explosives and ammunition in the bottom of a well bore to fracture the rock so that oil could flow to the surface.

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In fact, even the U.S. Army invented a bazooka projectile that they shot down hole to stimulate oil flow in unproductive wells.

The technique became known as “fracking.”

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With his company on the line, Mitchell needed to do something to save his business.

So, with one final chance, he said “screw it, let’s try fracking” and decided to use high pressure water instead of a bazooka.

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While the technique was originally invented by Standard Oil of Indiana in Kansas, fracking was usually uneconomic because oil - with the consistency of syrup - couldn’t flow through the fractures.

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But this is when George had his breakthrough.

George discovered that fracking worked for natural gas because gas was less viscous than oil.

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The wells started flowing.

Fortunately for Mitchell, natural gas was abundant in tight rock called shale...and due to his recent land grab, George was sitting on 300,000 acres of shale.

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Using this technique, Mitchell became one of the many billionaires of the fracking boom, providing over 10% of Chicago’s natural gas.

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Over the years, Mitchell evolved into a rather atypical oil baron. With famous scientist Buckminster Fuller, he became an environmentalist and climate activist. He recognized the importance of renewable energy as a compliment to natural gas.

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Mitchell purchased 15K acres of land outside of Houston. He planted tall trees and named it The Woodlands - embracing his views on sustainability and the environment. Today the city is home to over 100,000 people and is HQ of companies like ExxonMobil and Baker Hughes

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While George passed away in 2013, the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation is a mission driven foundation that seeks sustainable solutions for human and environmental problems.

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George Mitchell is known as the pioneer of hydraulic fracturing - an innovation which changed the global energy landscape and the way Americans participate on the global energy stage.

With the recent developments in renewables, my only question now is: Who’s next?

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Source: The Frackers by Gregory Zuckerman

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