The Kansas Project that Changed U.S. Energy Forever

When Floyd Farris stood over a well in the Hugoton gas field in southwestern Kansas back in May of 1947, he had no idea it would forever change our energy sector.

The well wasn’t necessarily deep at just 2,400 feet, nor was there anything special about the geology. 

What was special, however, was WHAT Farris pumped into that well — a thousand gallons of gelled gasoline mixed with sand from the Arkansas River. 

Then, he blasted it with pressure.

The well didn’t produce much more oil or gas, by the way. 

In fact, the experiment largely failed by its own metrics.

But it did prove something crucial.. 

It turns out that a driller could deliberately fracture the rock underground and create pathways where none naturally existed.

And just two years later in March of 1949, Halliburton — which evolved from Stanolind’s technology — performed the first two commercial hydraulic fracturing treatments. 

The first was in Oklahoma, and the next in Texas. 

Both worked. 

That 1947 moment in Kansas (and those two successful wells in 1949) launched the technique that would eventually unlock the shale revolution, create an entire industry, resurrect U.S. oil and gas production in 2008, and generate trillions in energy output.

During the shale revolution, hydraulic fracturing was used for one purpose — extracting oil and gas.

Today, the technology hasn’t changed much, but the applications have expanded well beyond the oil and gas wells dotting the Permian Basin. 

And that technology that was born from that Kansas well in 1947 is now being redirected toward something it was never designed for —- the clean energy transition.

From Oil Rig to Geothermal Well

Let’s fast forward a bit and zoom in on a drilling crew in Utah today. 

We’re talking about the exact same equipment they’ve used for decades, the exact same expertise, and the same hydraulic fracturing technology that environmental groups spent decades trying to ban.

Except now, these guys aren’t drilling for oil anymore. 

They’re drilling for heat.

You see, there was a tiny geothermal player that reached out and hired an oil and gas crew, then brought their over rigs to Utah and retrained them to build geothermal wells instead. 

The operations felt identical, but with one critical difference. 

Rather than extracting oil and gas from a tight rock formation, the company’s goal is to create an energy reservoir that generates electricity forever.

This is the real story nobody’s talking about. 

Geothermal doesn’t disrupt the energy workforce, it’s inheriting it!

It’s one of the reasons why major oil drillers like Halliburton, SLB, and Baker Hughes are investing billions in EGS development. 

By the way, they’re not abandoning their oil and gas business, just simply preserving their workforce and equipment by pivoting to the next frontier.

You know just as well as I do that the environmental movement has spent 40 years fighting hydraulic fracturing operations; then geothermal proved that the same fracturing has the capability of creating infinite, clean baseload power.

Again, it wasn’t the technology that changed, just the application.

The Geothermal Proof Found in Cape Station

Fervo Energy’s Cape Station in Utah is the first utility-scale commercial EGS facility in history. 

In fact, the first phase that will be roughly 70-90 megawatts (MW) is expected to go live this year, with a second phase holding the remaining 400 MW capacity coming on-line by 2028.

Make no mistake, these numbers are all too real. 

More importantly, the contracts have been signed, too. 

Remember, Southern California Edison locked in 320 MW for 15 years, with Google also inking their own geothermal contracts for data center power, and Shell Energy contracting roughly 31 MW. 

In total, that’s about 373 MW contracted from a 400 MW facility.

That doesn’t sound like mere startup hype, does it? That’s utility-scale contracts with major corporations and power companies betting billions on EGS technology.

And the drilling proof is equally compelling… 

Fervo cut drilling times by 70% year-over-year between its Project Red pilot in Nevada back in 2023 and Cape Station production wells today. 

If there’s one thing they can count on, it’s that drilling efficiencies in oil and gas operations (the same technology being utilized by Fervo) have greatly improved in recent years. 

Keep in mind that drilling operations represent more than half of traditional geothermal’s capital costs. 

The results have been clear as day — Cape Station secured $206 million in Phase I financing and $1.5 billion total in project value. 

The capital is flowing because the economics work, not because subsidies make them work.

As you might expect, the market for this is exploding now. In fact, he EGS market, which was valued around $2 billion in 2022, is projected to hit $3.3 billion by 2032. 

Meanwhile, the broader geothermal market sits at $67.9 billion in 2026 and is expected to grow to $109.6 billion by 2035. 

We’re far beyond this being a niche technology.

Our Department of Energy certainly sees the potential, too. 

After all, the DoE just committed $171.5 million in February 2026 to next-generation geothermal field tests. 

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania launched a $14 million EGS project in April 2026 converting shale gas wells to geothermal in Appalachia. 

Solving Big Tech’s Energy Crisis

We both know that Google needs 24/7 clean baseload power. 

After all, AI data centers don’t run on hope or wishful thinking.

More importantly, Google needs that power now — not a decade down the road. 

Unfortunately, Big Tech can’t wait for grid infrastructure to catch up. That’s why we’ve seen them lock-in geothermal contracts directly with Fervo.

It’s not just Google, either. 

We’ve got Meta signing geothermal contracts, and even Amazon is exploring geothermal partnerships. 

Every major tech company is quietly securing 24/7 clean baseload power through geothermal deals. For the record, those are long-term contracts with cold, hard cash flowing into real projects.

Of course, the irony here is that Big Tech figured this out well before the energy market repriced it.

Why? Well, because that’s exactly what a data center running AI models needs, and we’re going to see who’s going to lock-in capacity before the rest of the market realizes what’s happening.

Look, next-gen geothermal projects such as EGS have officially moved from “concept” to “commercial reality” over the last few years.

In other words, we’re witnessing the transition in real-time, and Cape Station is just the first utility-scale commercial facility. 

By 2030, we’ll see dozens. 

We know for a fact that the drilling techniques are proven replicable AND that drilling costs are dropping — all while demand for power accelerates. 

The thing is, Mr. Market still treats geothermal like it treated early-stage solar — interesting, but not core infrastructure.

That re-pricing is coming. Now it’s just a question of timing, and who’s at the head of the pack. 

It’s also the reason why we’ve been tracking the best geothermal companies that are positioned ahead of that inevitable institutional repricing. 

What you’re looking for are the developers landing corporate contracts like Cape Station’s, the drillers that are accelerating EGS deployment, and which geothermal players are now hitting commercial milestones.

The same technology behind Stanolind’s Kansas well revitalized an oil and gas industry that had been in a 40+ year decline is about to do it all over again for clean, baseload power in 2026. 

And you can bet the companies that see the parallel are the ones that will profit from it.

Let me show you who’s at the top of the list.