Archive
UNCONVENTIONAL OIL. Latest published applications 2017-2019. Underground reservoir exploration
Summary
Assessing the potential yield of unconventional hydrocarbon deposits is a comprehensive process including an extensive examination of the reservoir to analyse the feasibility of cost-efficient production over a certain period of time. Formerly, hydrocarbon exploration was conducted by simply looking for signs of underground formations on the surface such as seepages of oil or gas emitted from underground. However, as oil and natural gas seepages do not frequently occur, the exploration process was rather inefficient and difficult. Nowadays, exploration methods are largely based on the use of advanced technologies to locate potential production sites. During the initial phase of underground reservoir exploration, reservoir characteristics such as the accumulation of hydrocarbons, geophysical characteristics, including viscosity, density, gas content, water saturation, porosity, permeability etc., as well as the boundaries of a reservoir and possible dynamic changes during production are analysed, which is decisive for selecting the most efficient production technique, reducing production costs and optimising the drilling process. To do so, a great variety of seismic, magnetic, electric as well as geophysical methods, including exploratory boring, is used in order to determine if the reservoir corresponds to the required characteristics. Especially, high-precision 3D seismic testing delivers valuable data concerning the boundaries of subsurface layers and also the gas content of a reservoir. The applications presented in this bulletin try to make a contribution to further improving the underground exploration process.
The present bulletin reviews patent applications registered by patent offices around the globe in 2017-2019 in the field related to underground reservoir exploration in unconventional oil. General research methodology can be found on the Advanced Energy Technologies website. 431 patent documents from 21 patent offices around the world are represented in the bulletin. In total, 137 applicants from 14 countries and 299 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 the United States.
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 visualized, 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.
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 applications by problems, IPC sections, patent offices and technology indicators. Representatives of the United States prevail among the patenting leaders in the examined period of time, including: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (US), Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. (US), Saudi Arabian Oil Company (SA), Chevron USA, Inc. (US), ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (US), ConocoPhilips Company (US), Geoquest Systems BV (NL), Landmark Graphics Corporation (US), Schlumberger Canada Limited (CA), Services Petroliers Schlumberger (FR).
The prominent documents pages contain the top 10 patent applications with the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, and those not being a part of patent family.
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 registered patent applications is provided in the conclusive part of the bulletin.
Who needs this bulletin?
The data provided in the proposed bulletin is a timely reflection of the transformations that take place in the intellectual property sector of the industrial direction concerned. Thoroughly edited selection of patent documents can become a good complement to your library of available technical solutions. The bulletin is targeted at inventors, engineers, researchers, managers and business administrators involved in the development of unconventional oil production technologies.
