Archive
UNCONVENTIONAL OIL. Latest granted patents 2016-2018. Oil Shale
Summary
Currently, the prospects of kerogen oil production from oil shale formations justifiably seem particularly pessimistic. Firstly, this is related to the permanent surplus of conventional oil in global markets that has existed in recent years, secondly the existing processes of oil extraction from oil shale that are based on the thermal treatment of formation, including specialized retorts, inevitably cause the oil produced to be the most expensive and not so competitive at the moment. Nevertheless, there are two important aspects that do not allow this type of energy feedstock to be completely ignored: first of all, vast resources and the irregularity of conventional oil reserve distribution by the countries around the world. Besides the USA, where overwhelming reserves of kerogen oil are concentrated, a number of other countries on almost every continent are also in possession of this commodity. Secondly, there are examples showing successful commercial implementation of technologies of extracting petroleum content from oil shale formations in Estonia, China, Brazil, and other countries. It should also be noted that scientific researches and the perfection of technological processes in this field of oil production never stop, which can considerably alter the existing trends. The proposed patent statistical bulletin allows the latest engineering achievements in this discipline to be traced.
A selection of patents related to oil shale and published by patent offices around the globe in 2016-2018 is provided for review in the present bulletin. General research methodology can be found on the Advanced Energy Technologies website. The present bulletin includes 728 patents, prepared by applicants from 31 countries and registered in 24 patent offices. The patent documents mention 343 applicants and 971 IPC subgroups.
Key Highlights
The bulletin contains statistical data on the 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 top three patent offices that granted the largest number of patents were USPTO (US), CIPO (CA) and CNIPA (CN).
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.
The following information can be found for the top 10 applicants: breakdown of documents by problems, IPC sections, patent offices, technological indicators, as well as the estimation of their share in the established intellectual property market. The 10 leading applicants by the number of patent documents were: Xyleco Inc. (US), ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (US), Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Arabia), Siemens AG (Germany), Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. (the Netherlands), Red Leaf Resources Inc (US), Green Source Energy LLC (US), Harris Corporation (US), Halliburton Energy Services, Inc (US), Schlumberger Technology Corporation (US).
The bulletin contains lists of the top 10 prominent documents having the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, 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 are 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 oil shale production technologies.
