Archive
UNCONVENTIONAL OIL. Latest granted patents 2014-2016. Steam injection
Summary
Steam injection is one of the most common and widely-applied methods of thermal stimulation of high viscosity and high density oil reservoirs causing a significant reduction in the viscosity of the heavy oils. The majority of the successful steam injection projects are mostly found in Canada and the USA. There are three major types of steam injection techniques – SAGD (Steam Assisted gravity drainage), CSS (Cyclic Steam Stimulation) and Steam flooding. In practice, the steam injection process is often supported by a combination of these mechanisms and the new techniques that are constantly being developed to improve them. Latest designs and innovations in this field are aimed at optimizing steam generation equipment, reducing energy and water use, minimizing harmful emission and developing mitigation measures. This bulletin presents statistical information on current patents in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) based on steam injection.
The proposed bulletin is dedicated to Steam injection in Unconventional Oil and includes patents published in 2014-2016. Research methodology is available on the Advanced Energy Technologies website. The patent bulletin includes 805 patent documents. The patents were granted in 22 patent offices around the world. 397 applicants from 23 countries participated in the development of the inventions. 693 subgroups of the International Patent Classification were encountered in the patent documents.
Key Highlights
The bulletin provides general statistical figures, including the overall distribution of patent documents by years, by patent offices and by applicant countries, applicant-related data (residents and non-residents), data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The most popular patent offices among the applicants were: USPTO (US), CIPO (CA), CNIPA (CN), Rospatent (RU), IP Australia (AU).
Based on the analysis of each of the patents, internal characteristics of unified indicators (technical problems, types of inventive solutions, belonging to one or other technological segment) were found, which allowed specific features for each of the indicators for the entire array of documents to be defined, for instance, to define the leading problems or technical solution types that were disclosed by the inventors the most. Document lists are provided for the ten most popular groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators, including their ID numbers and applicant names.
Data is provided for each of the top 10 applicants, leading in terms of the number of published patent documents among the ones examined in the bulletin, illustrating their share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of documents by problems, IPC sections. Representatives of the USA prevail among the patenting leaders in the examined period of time. These leaders include: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. (USA), ConocoPhilips Company (USA), PetroChina Company Limited (China), Tatneft (Russia), Baker Hughes Incorporated (USA), Harris Corporation (USA), Schlumberger Technology Corporation (USA), Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. (Netherlands), World Energy Systems Inc (USA) and ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (USA).
The top prominent documents section includes three lists of the top 10 patents having the highest bibliographical rating, the largest number of IPC sections, and the shortest patent pending time.
A list 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 granted patents is provided in the conclusive part of the bulletin.
Who needs this bulletin?
The proposed patent statistics bulletin allows the existing trends in the intellectual property market of the specified industrial sector to be timely traced, as well as the possibility of acquiring a carefully selected list of patent documents fully corresponding to the specified subject. The bulletin can be useful for inventors, engineers, scientific workers, and business representatives, who are focused on the development of unconventional oil production technologies.
