OIL&GAS FROM LOW PERMEABILITY PLAYS. Hydraulic Fracturing Proppants. Patent Database. Aenert. May 2021
Summary
For hydrocarbon production from low-permeable plays, it is necessary to create a network of collapse-resistant cracks in it, through which oil and gas can migrate to the surface of the well. Hydraulic fracturing is a means of well-stimulation and used to create new fractures in the rock or increase the size, reach, as well as connectivity of existing fractures. During the fracking process propping agents are used to keep the fracture open once the pumps are shut down and the fracture begins to close. The selection of proppants is very important for hydraulic fracturing.
The ideal propping agent is strong, resistant to crushing and corrosion, has a low density, and is available at low cost. The products that come closest to these desired traits are silica sand, resin-coated sand and ceramic proppants. Usually, sand is employed to prop open fractures in shallow formations. Sand is less expensive than resin-coated sand or ceramic proppants. Resin-coated sand is stronger than sand and used where more compressive strength is required to minimize proppant crushing. Some resins can form a consolidated pack in the fracture, which will help to eliminate proppant flowback into the wellbore. Ceramic proppants may consist of sintered bauxite, intermediate-strength proppant and lightweight proppant. The strength of ceramic proppants is proportional to its density. They are usually reserved for deep well stimulation where large values of in-situ stresses will exert great forces on the propping agent.
Development of specific proppant compositions that correspond to strict and diverse requirements of hydrocarbon production is a complex and vital object, which to a large extent determines the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing process. The present database includes a collection of patents and patent applications disclosing original technical solutions related to different aspects of proppant production and use.
Key Highlights
The database contains 5873 patent documents registered in patent offices around the world since 1995 that were published in publicly-available patent databases, found in the result of a deliberate patent search, and processed in accordance with the methodology by the date of compilation of this database (May 2021).
A free demo version of this database can be downloaded here:
The demo version presents the first hundred patent documents, as well as some of the statistical information. In most cases, statistical diagrams and tables are limited to the first positions, the rest are hidden by symbols ###. In the full version the statistical information is presented in full and the diagrams are calculated automatically.
Each patent document in this database contains a list of conventional bibliographical indicators, including original title, English version of title, family size, application date, publication date, patenting office, names of inventors and applicants, document kind (patent or application), number of claims, number of citing, IPC indices, and core document number.
Also, all documents are provided with additional markers – unified indicators that include: technology categories (indicate the applicability of technical solutions to one of the energy industry sectors, as stated by the authors of the inventions); technology elements (indicators with a specific level of detailing for the production process in a particular energy industry sector); problems (technical, economical, ecological and other problems declared by the authors in a patent document); type of technical solution (device, method, composition).
The database also includes statistical analysis for major parameters of patent documents published during the 20-year period between 2001-2020. In particular, the statistical analysis includes a breakdown of documents by publication dates, by patent families, by patent offices, by residents and non-residents, and by applicant countries.
Statistical analysis includes:
Inventions: 5752
Offices: 39
Countries: 35
Applicants: 1047
Individual IPC subgroups: 1039
Total IPC subgroups assigned: 15305
The main body of the patent documents were registered between 2015 and 2019 with a peak of patenting activity in 2017. With rare exceptions, USPTO (US) patent office annually were the leader by the number of granted patents. However, in the last years maximum number of patent applications were registered mostly in CNIPA (CN). The highest activity in patenting their inventions was demonstrated by the residents of the USA with a share of almost 62% of the total number of patents granted during 2001-2020. Among other countries whose residents were granted at least 20 patents were China, Russia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, France and Saudi Arabia.
The most popular IPC subgroup with a share of almost 17% was C09K8/80 - Compositions for reinforcing fractures, e.g. compositions of proppants used to keep the fractures open. Compositions as a type of technical solution was mentioned in 50% of inventions; different methods were mentioned less often – in 44% and devices - 6%. 310 groups of identical unified indicators were identified among patents. The most numerous of them was a group with a combination of indicators LEMP/ FPA/ HF/ C, where LEMP is " Low efficiency / Main processes "; FPA is " Hydraulic fracturing materials / Propping agents " (technology element); HF - " Hydraulic fracturing" (technology category); C – " Compositions " (technical solution type). The following problems at which the technical solutions were aimed were mentioned more than others by the authors in their inventions: " Low efficiency / Main processes " and " High OPEX / Operation and consumables".
A separate portion of the statistical analysis is dedicated to applicants of patent document. It includes the lists of applicants separately for patents and applications, breakdown of applicants' patent documents by offices, by types of technical solution, by problems, by technology categories, by IPC sections. The list of top 10 most productive applicants by the number of patents includes:
Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. (US)
Baker Hughes Incorporated (US)
Carbo Ceramics, Inc. (US)
B.J. Services Company (US)
Oxane Materials, Inc. (US)
Oren Technologies, LLC (US)
Schlumberger Technology Corporation (US)
FORES (RU)
Schlumberger Technology B.V. (NL)
Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics, Inc. (US)
The concluding part of the analysis includes calculated data that allow the resulting patenting trends to be exposed and main conclusions to be drawn. Such diagrams as relationship of number of applicants to number of patents by year, relationship of number of single applications to total number by year, new applicants by year, top new IPC subgroups, and others, are presented here.
Detailed information on the methodology of search and processing of patent documents is available on the Advanced Energy Technologies website.
Who needs this Database?
This Database 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 Database can be of interest for inventors, engineers, researchers, students and educators, as well as for businessmen and investors, who in one way or another are concerned with the problems of the development of unconventional oil and gas production technologies.
Disclaimer
The present database was prepared by EnerTechUp company and its partners. The database includes patent documents that were carefully collected from the publicly available sources and, according to the authors, to the greatest degree represent the latest innovations in the particular energy industry as of the date of the database preparation. Detailed information on the methodology of search and processing of patent documents is available at Advanced Energy Technologies website. Considering the difficulties related to the compilation of lists of international patent documents, including those related to time frames, national and terminological barriers, as well as taking into consideration high labour intensity of collecting the required analytical information and performing its qualitative interpretation, the authors of the database cannot guarantee absolute completeness and accuracy of the represented materials and disclaim any responsibility for the use thereof. EnerTechUp company represents this material “as is” and rejects any claims and liabilities arising from the use of data published therein, including, but not limited to: compensation for any type of financial damage, lost profit or compensation for moral injury. These stipulations also refer to employees, shareholders, agents and data suppliers of EnerTechUp company.
