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UNCONVENTIONAL GAS 2018/ key applicants

Recent Inventions / Brief Overview

About 500 patent applications were collected in total for the analysis of patent activity of main applicants in 2018 in the field of unconventional gas production, of which 279 relate to methane production from hydrates (GHD), 12 – to coal bed methane (CBM), and the remainder 94 – to associated petroleum gas (APG). All of the applications were found in generally-accessible patent sources by examining the texts of inventions. The main applicants for these three topics are provided in the table below. The leader of the patenting process by the number of registered applications was Chinese Daqing Dongyou Ruijia Petroleum Tech Co Ltd. All patent applications of this company addressed the subject of GHD. Also, the top three applicants include Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. and Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The former had the largest number of applications in the CBM sector, while the latter – in the APG sector. Among other outstanding applicants are: Chinese SWPU Southwest Petroleum University, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, and Marine Geological Survey – all in the GHD sector; American ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (APG, CBM), Chevron USA (CBM, GHD), and Inc. Oren Technologies, LLC (CBM); as well as Dutch Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. (APG, CBM) and Norwegian Aker Solutions AS (GHD).

Leading applicants, who registered the largest number of applications in 2018

ApplicantCountryAPGCBMGHDTotal
Daqing Dongyou Ruijia Petroleum Tech Co LtdCN--7171
Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.US-271946
Saudi Arabian Oil CompanySA214328
SWPU Southwest Petroleum UniversityCN--2222
ExxonMobil Upstream Research CompanyUS137-20
Qingdao Institute of Marine GeologyCN--1212
Chevron USA, Inc.US-2911
Marine Geological SurveyCN--99
Oren Technologies, LLCUS-9-9
Baker Hughes IncorporatedUS-459
Jilin UniversityCN--99
Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V.NL17-8
UPC China University of PetroleumCN--88
Aker Solutions ASNO--88
DLUT Dalian University of TechnologyCN--77


Source: Advanced Energy Technologies

The following diagrams shows data on the distribution of patent application registered by top 10 applicants for each of the topics by patent offices around the world, and by technology elements, which act as the indicators of detailed breakdown of production process.
The leading applicants of the APG sector filed their applications with 11 patent offices around the world, including WIPO, without apparent domination of any of them. In a provisional intellectual property register that is counted as the combination of two indicators (share of applicant documents in total number of documents and applicant's participation share in total number of documents) the share of Saudi Arabian Oil Company exceeded 22%. For ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company this indicator comprised 13.26%, while for Russian Rosneft – 5.38%.


Distribution of patent applications by patent offices around the world among the top 10 applicants (APG)

Source: Advanced Energy Technologies

Four of the top 10 applicants – Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschunge.V., Rosneft, Air Liquide Advanced Technologies, U.S. LLC, and Beijing Huashi United Energy Technology Development Co., Ltd – were entirely focused on the improvement of various operations for associated gas preparation. The applications of Gas2 Limited were dedicated exclusively to Gas-to-liquid technology. Both Saudi Arabian Oil Company and ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company concerned three different technological operations in their patent applications.

Technological interests of the top 10 applicants (APG)


Source: Advanced Energy Technologies

AGM - Associated gas metering; FP - Flaring process; GTL - Gas to liquid; GTP - Gas to power; P- Preparation; TA - Transport and storage; UI - Underground injection

Geographical coverage for the top 10 applicants in the CBM sector was substantially broader and comprised 15 patent offices around the world. Many of the leading applicants registered their applications in two or more offices. The leader in the intellectual property register here was Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. with the share exceeding 21%. It was followed by Oren Technologies, LLC – 7.03%; ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company and Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. – each having 5.47%. Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. and Oren Technologies, LLC had the most extensive geographical representation and registered their applications in seven and six patent offices, respectively.

Distribution of patent applications by patent offices around the world among the top 10 applicants (CBM)


Source: Advanced Energy Technologies

The most popular subject with the inventors was hydraulic fracturing of coal seams. China University of Mining and Technology, American Conoco Philips Company and Oren Technologies, LLC, and Saudi Arabian Oil Company in all their patent applications were fully concentrated on this technology. Korea Gas Corporation specialized exclusively in the procedures of coal seam methane exploration, while Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. was oriented towards the operations of methane conversion into liquid fuel. The inventions of Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. are distinct with the widest technological diversity.

Technological interests of the top 10 applicants (CBM)


Source: Advanced Energy Technologies

DR - Drilling; E - Exploration; HF - Hydraulic fracturing; MTE - Methane to electricity; MTL - Methane to liquid; P - Production; TT - Treatment & transportation


Domination of the representatives of China in the top 10 applicant list can be seen for the subject related to methane production from hydrates, they predominantly registered their patent applications in their own country. The other participants of the list (American Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. and Chevron USA, Inc., and Norwegian Aker Solutions AS) were, in contrast, mainly patenting in foreign patent offices. The largest share in the intellectual property register was gained by Chinese Daqing Dongyou Ruijia Petroleum Tech Co Ltd – 25.63%. The shares of SWPU Southwest Petroleum University and Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. comprised 7.22% and 6.86%, respectively.

Distribution of patent applications by patent offices around the world among the top 10 applicants (GHD)


Source: Advanced Energy Technologies

Technological interests of the applicants leading in this topic were fairly diverse, as opposed to APG and CBM. All of the participants registered patent applications related to the methods of methane hydrate activation. Aker Solutions AS, Daqing Dongyou Ruijia Petroleum Tech Co Ltd, Jilin University, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, and SWPU Southwest Petroleum University paid substantial attention to the operations of Underwater drilling or capture. Chevron USA, Inc., Dalian University of Technology, Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, UPC China University of Petroleum, Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., Jilin University, and Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology proposed technical solutions concerning the issues of exploration of hydrate formations. This year, the leader of the patenting process Daqing Dongyou Ruijia Petroleum Tech Co Ltd stood out with the largest number of different technological aspects in their inventions. The largest number of applications was made by the company in the fields of Underground drilling or extraction and Activation.

Technological interests of the top 10 applicants (CBM)


Source: Advanced Energy Technologies

A - Activation; DCG - Drilling or capture in general; E - Exploration; IS - Infrastructure & security; TT - Treatment & transportation; UGC - Underground drilling or extraction; UWC - Underwater drilling or capture


More detailed information on the methodology as well as on the results of patent researches in the most important fields of contemporary energy industry can be found at Advanced Energy Technologies.