[11] The company was started by Bob R. Simpson, Steve Palko and Jon Brumley with US$35 million raised by former Goldman Sachs co-chairman Robert Rubin.

[21][22] In September 2012, ExxonMobil and XTO Energy signed a land exchange agreement with Denbury Onshore LLC, acquiring 196,000 acres in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana.

[24] In February 2014, XTO Energy agreed to let American Energy–Utica LLC buy into 30,000 acres of its holdings in the Utica Shale located in the Harrison, Jefferson and Belmont counties of Ohio.

[25] In August 2015, Exxon Mobil Corporation signed two agreements to drill on 48,000 acres in the core of the Midland Basin to be operated by XTO Energy.

[29] In 2010, XTO Energy and ExxonMobil gave a $5 million grant to Colorado State University to fund studies on the impact of oil and gas drilling on wildlife.

[32] Also in 2013, XTO Energy donated $200,000 to the American Red Cross to support efforts to help Colorado communities with natural disaster protection and recovery.

[33] In April 2014, XTO Energy donated $25,000 in the form of grants to Westmoreland County Community College in Pittsburgh to help students enrolled in the Petroleum Industrial Processing Operations Technology program offset tuition and travel costs, as well as purchase equipment for the school.

[35] In 2015, XTO contributed $5 million to the North Dakota Housing Incentive Fund, supporting the construction of low-cost apartments for teachers and emergency personnel.

[39] In April 2015, a study published by researchers at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas allegedly connected two XTO-operated wastewater disposal wells with a series of earthquakes in Azle, Texas, occurring in 2013.

[40] In August 2015, preliminary findings by investigators with the Texas Railroad Commission found a disposal well operated near Azle by XTO Energy was unlikely to have caused the seismic activity, which contradicted the SMU study.