What FracFocus does

FracFocus is the national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure registry, established in 2011 and operated by the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. The platform serves oil and gas operators required to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, state regulatory agencies overseeing those disclosures, and the general public seeking transparency into fracturing fluid composition (typically 0.5–2% chemicals and 98–99% water and sand). As of mid-2020 the registry held over 175,000 disclosure records tracking approximately 963.7 billion gallons of water use, concentrated in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania.

The underlying technology is a web-based chemical disclosure registry backed by a full SQL data architecture. The December 2023 release of Version 4.0 modernized the platform with new architecture, mandatory 2-Factor Authentication, enhanced data viewing/editing/download capabilities, and additional validation testing. Distinctive components include the "systems approach" reporting method that decouples chemical ingredients from trade names to protect proprietary formulations, and the voluntary Water Source Data module (January 2024) that lets operators categorize up to 100% of water used across groundwater, surface water, produced water, and other sources with TDS thresholds to support ESG and produced-water reuse reporting. The operator submission portal (FracFocusData.org) is separate from the public site, and full SQL database downloads are published five times per week.

FracFocus operates as a non-profit, publicly-funded registry rather than a commercial enterprise. There are no subscription, transaction, or licensing fees for operators submitting disclosures or for the public accessing data; the platform is sustained through its affiliation with GWPC and DOE. Recent strategic emphasis has been on expanding the registry's scope — accepting chemical disclosures for non-oil and gas wells (geothermal, pressure energy, CCUS/Class VI injection, mineral brine) since March 2025, and integrating with the WellFinder application in March 2026 to surface adjacent state-agency well data — rather than on monetization.

Name

FracFocus

Legal name

FracFocus

Website

https://fracfocus.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Short description

FracFocus is the national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure registry, operated since 2011 by the Ground Water Protection Council with U.S. Department of Energy support, providing free public access to oil and gas chemical and water-use disclosures for operators, state regulators, and the public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Chemical Disclosure Registry

NAICS

Oil and Gas Extraction (2111), Regulation and Administration of Communications, Electric, Gas, and Other Utilities (92613)

SIC

Oil & Gas Field Exploration Services (1382)

akta.pro primary industry

Upstream HSE, Regulatory Compliance & Emissions Management (Methane/Flare) (EUALAAAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Supply Chain (Scope 3) Emissions & Supplier Engagement Platforms (EUABAEAE)

Keywords

• Hydraulic fracturing registry
• Chemical disclosure data
• Well disclosure records
• Public data registry
• Frac chemicals database

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public Registry Services: FracFocus operates as a publicly-funded national registry for hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosures. The platform is affiliated with the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and receives support from the Department of Energy. No direct revenue is generated from operators or the public accessing the data.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

FracFocus is the national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure registry that allows oil and gas operators to submit standardized chemical disclosure data and provides the public with free, searchable access to that data, including chemicals used, water sources, and well locations. The registry consists of a public website (fracfocus.org) for data access and research and a separate operator portal (FracFocusData.org) for disclosure submission, with full SQL database downloads available five times per week.

Product overview

FracFocus operates as a national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure registry consisting of a public-facing website and a separate operator data submission portal (FracFocusData.org). The core offering includes searchable well disclosures, a chemicals database with CAS Registry Numbers, state regulations, and public data downloads. Key modules include the Water Source Data feature (voluntary water source tracking), WellFinder integration (external well data discovery), Non-O&G Wells Disclosures (geothermal, CCUS, mineral wells), and the Public Data Download (SQL extracts updated five times weekly). The operator portal supports registration, login with 2-factor authentication, and chemical disclosure submissions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FracFocus Public Website Public-facing portal at fracfocus.org providing free searchable access to hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosures, well data, chemical information with CAS Registry Numbers, state regulations explorer, and educational content for consumers, researchers, and the general public.
• FracFocusData.org Operator Portal Separate operator submission portal at FracFocusData.org where oil & gas operators (and non-O&G well operators) register, authenticate with 2FA, and submit hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure data with enhanced validation for data quality.
• Non-Oil & Gas Wells Disclosure Service New disclosure service accepting chemical disclosure submissions for hydraulic fracturing jobs on wells not associated with oil and gas production, including geothermal wells, pressure energy wells, CCUS/Class VI Injection wells, and rare earth mineral brine wells.

Quantifiable outcome

• Average water use per disclosure: ~5.5 million gallons; Median: ~2.8 million gallons
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011GWPC is the organizational parent and host of FracFocus. The Ground Water Protection Council provides governance and oversight for the national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure registry. FracFocus email contact is [email protected].
• Department of Energy (DOE) - Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon ManagementcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011DOE/Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management is affiliated with FracFocus as a supporting government agency. The partnership provides federal backing and alignment with national energy policy objectives for transparency in hydraulic fracturing.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Enverus: Commercial oil and gas data, analytics, and workflow platform serving upstream operators. Comparable because it ingests the same upstream activity data (wells, fracking, chemicals) that FracFocus discloses, often repackaging public registry data into commercial analytics products.
• S&P Global Commodity Insights: Major energy data and analytics provider covering upstream oil and gas, with related datasets on production, completions, and chemicals. Comparable because it serves regulators, operators, and researchers seeking standardized upstream energy data — the same audiences FracFocus serves.

Emerging players

• SkyTruth: Non-profit environmental monitoring organization that analyzes oil and gas activity, including fracking, using satellite and public data. Comparable because it relies on and repackages upstream public datasets (including FracFocus disclosures) to produce transparency-oriented analysis for the same downstream audience of researchers and advocacy groups.

Others

• Halliburton — fracCHEM / Well Construction Services: Major oilfield services company and hydraulic fracturing service provider that submits disclosures to FracFocus. Comparable as a leading industry participant whose operations generate the underlying disclosure data the registry standardizes.
• Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) — Oil & Gas Program: Environmental advocacy organization that has historically driven hydraulic fracturing transparency policy and uses FracFocus data for research. Comparable because it operates in the same transparency ecosystem and depends on the registry's disclosure quality.
• Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC): Parent organization of FracFocus. Comparable as the governing state-interstate groundwater regulatory body that sets the policy framework within which FracFocus disclosure requirements are defined and enforced.
• Open Energy Information (OpenEI): DOE-affiliated open energy data platform. Comparable as a publicly funded energy information repository with similar policy objectives of transparency, even though its scope is broader than upstream chemical disclosures.

Direct peers

• WellFinder: State-agency well data discovery platform already integrated with FracFocus disclosure pages. Directly comparable because it consolidates publicly available well-level data for the same operators and regulators, and is positioned as a complementary rather than competing data source.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fracfocus

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FracFocus