OIL&GAS FROM LOW PERMEABILITY PLAYS. Latest published applications 2017-2019. Working fluids
Summary
Hydraulic fracturing technologies are used for reservoir stimulation and enhanced hydrocarbon recovery in low and moderate permeability reservoirs by means of fluid injection. Fracturing fluids are injected into the well to break reservoir formation and create a fracture making hydrocarbons move. Fracturing fluids have a significant impact on hydraulic fracturing results, so the process of their selection and use must be tailored to the individual operating conditions, taking into account specific location and reservoir characteristics, as well as environmental risks. In general, water-based fluids are the most common and least expensive solution if compared to foam-based and oil-based liquids. Additional chemicals are employed in fracturing fluids to ensure a more efficient stimulation process, namely to reduce friction and corrosion, prevent bacterial growth, and achieve lower water use. At the same time, chemical additives could involve some hazards to human health and the environment associated primarily with water contamination by leaks. One of the methods that have the potential to minimize or completely eliminate the use of chemical additives is applying cryogenic fluids like liquid CO2 or liquid N2. Cryogenic fracturing also reduces the formation damage and can be implemented without using water, but is associated with higher costs. Recent patent applications from the proposed patent bulletin will help interested experts review the latest developments in this area, including statistical information about leading applicants and patent offices.
The present bulletin reviews patent applications registered by patent offices around the globe in 2017-2019 in the field related to the working fluids as fracturing materials in oil and gas production from low permeability plays. General research methodology can be found on the Advanced Energy Technologies website. 2411 patent documents from 30 patent offices around the world are represented in the bulletin. In total, 474 applicants from 20 countries and 962 subgroups of the International Patent Classification are mentioned.
Key Highlights
Statistical information presented in the bulletin includes distribution of patent documents by years, by patent offices and by applicant countries, applicant-related data (residents and non-residents), and data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The largest number of applications during the period of time under revision was registered by the patent office of China.
For each of the patent documents selected for the examination in the present bulletin the characteristics of unified indicators were preliminary defined, they include: technical problems, types of inventive solutions employed, belonging to one or other technological segment. This allows the internal content for each of the indicators in the aggregate array of documents to be vizualized, for instance, to define the sequence and proportional correlation of technical problems the inventive solutions disclosed in the texts aim to solve. A list of the top 10 groups consisting of patent documents with identical unified indicators contains ID numbers and applicant names of respective documents; the groups are sorted by the number of patent documents.
A list of the top 10 applicants by the number of applications includes Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. (USA), Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Sausi Arabia), Baker Hughes Incorporated (USA), PetroChina Company Limited (China), SWPU Southwest Petroleum University (China), China Petroleum & Chemical Company (China), Rhodia Operations S.A.S. (France), Aramco Services Company, Inc. (USA), Fluid Energy Group Ltd (Canada), Schlumberger Technology B.V. (Netherlands). Data representing the share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of applications by problems, IPC sections, patent offices and technology indicators is provided in the form of tables and diagrams for them.
The prominent documents pages contain the top 10 patents patent applications with the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, and those not being a part of patent family.
The conclusive part of the bulletin represents the lists of all of the documents reviewed, arranged by the top 10 groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators and by patent offices with the indication of the ID numbers of the registered patent applications.
Who needs this bulletin?
The statistics bulletin under examination serves as one of the variants to monitor advanced technical achievements in the specified industrial sector. The statistical data, rating evaluations and carefully selected patent documents provided in the bulletin can be of interest for inventors, students and educators, engineers, as well as for businessmen and investors, who in one way or another are concerned with the problems of the development of unconventional gas and oil production technologies.
