In the early 1930s, it was confirmed that adding some soluble additives to the liquid would reduce the surface friction. From 1945 to 1946, research on drag reducers was officially carried out abroad. In 1948, the drag reduction phenomenon of polymer in turbulent flow was first discovered by b1a1toms, which attracted the attention of chemical, physical, hydrodynamics and polymer fields. In the 1950s, oil field fracturing technology was developed. Some high molecular polymers, such as guar gum, were used to stabilize drilling mud. It was found that these additives can significantly reduce the pump power during the fracturing process.

Savins captured the practical significance of these phenomena and named them "drag reduction". He defined "drag reduction" as "the increase of fluid transportability by adding a small amount of additives to the fluid". A large number of experimental studies have shown that insoluble solid fibers, soluble long-chain polymers and associated colloids have a certain drag reduction effect. At present, the drag reducers are all chain polymers.

In the 1960s, great progress has been made in the research of drag reducers.

Due to economic and technical reasons, the potential of drag reduction technology has not been fully developed. In order to solve these problems, a company has carried out a large number of experiments, the drag reducer used is CDR. This experimental report solves the problems of the starting point, shear degradation of the middle group and the influence of the increased pipe diameter on the drag reduction, which proves that the drag reduction agent is technically feasible. In 1972, CDR obtained a patent, which was the first time that the drag reducer entered the pipeline. In 1979, the United States ronoco produced CDR, which began to be used continuously in the trans Alaska crude oil pipeline, marking the maturity of drag reduction technology. Since the 1980s, drag reducers have been used in hundreds of oil pipelines all over the world.

In the middle of 1980s, the experiment of adding and reducing drag agent in crude oil pipeline was carried out in China, and some results were obtained.