METHANE HYDRATES. Patent review 1999-2018. Exploration, activation, production of methane, and ecological safety. Aenert
METHANE HYDRATES
Exploration, activation, production of methane, and ecological safety
Patent review
Methane hydrates are solid crystalline substances, also called as clathrates, in which water molecules under certain temperature and pressure conditions form stable connection with methane molecules. In nature methane hydrates can be primarily met on continental shelves and in near-surface areas of land in arctic permafrost areas. Such regions as, Alaska North Slope and Gulf of Mexico (USA); Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Shenhu in South China Sea (China); Mackenzie Delta and Cascadia Margin (Canada); Nankai Trough, Okinawa Trough and Joetsu Basin (Japan); Baikal area and Messoyakha - West Siberian Basin (Russia); and Ulleung Basin (South Korea) were examined the most. Practical interest in methane hydrates is primarily related to two factors – tremendous potential resources of methane in hydrate formations and the threat of uncontrolled emissions of methane from hydrates as a consequence of climate warming. Therefore, during the last two decades the flow of scientific researches and patent solutions in the field of exploration, activation and production of methane from hydrates has grown numerous times.
The present patent review and annex in the form of patent document lists includes information on 3141 patent documents published between 1999-2018 and collected in the course of a subject-oriented patent search in generally-accessible patent search systems, in which the authors have declared the belonging of the patent solutions to the field related to the exploration, activation methods, and production of methane from natural gas hydrates, as well as to the ecological safety of these processes. The review does not include the aspects of hydrate formation in various technological processes, for instance, in pipelines or chemical reactors, unless they are directly related to the processes of production or activation of natural gas hydrates. In total, during the patent search for the statistical analysis 2113 patent applications and 1028 patents were found, represented by 845 applicants from 26 countries and registered in 39 patent offices around the world.
Review and analysis of patents and patent applications published includes: distribution of documents by years; by bibliographical and technological indicators; by top patent offices; by lead countries for inventive activity; analysis of non-resident participation; correlation of International Patent Classification indices; analysis of activity of the most productive applicants; shares of participation of applicants in the intellectual property registry; rating evaluation of patent documents using original methodology; analysis of major technological directions, including exploration of methane hydrate formations and their activation, extraction and transportation of methane, development of infrastructural facilities, safety provisions and ecological measures.
For each of the patent documents selected for the examination in the present review the characteristics of unified indicators were preliminary defined, they include: technical problems, types of inventive solutions employed, belonging to one or another 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.
The review provides data relating to the patenting activity in the leading patent offices, including USPTO, CNIPA (CN), JPO (JP), Rospatent (RU), CIPO (CA), IP Australia (AU), KIPO (KR), EPO, IPO (GB), NIPO (NO). It contains a detailed description of the results of patenting activity for the leading applicants, including Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Chevron USA, Inc., Schlumberger Limited, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), CAS GIEC Guangzhou, Southwest Petroleum University, China Petroleum University, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, Shell International Research Maatschappij B.V. Statistical data is presented in two comparative variants – for patents granted during the entire analytical period and for applications published during the last five years.
The chapter "Evolution of technical solutions" provides a detailed analysis of patent solutions for the following technological operations:
- exploration of methane hydrate formations (seismic or acoustic exploration, exploration using electric or magnetic means, geological survey, other methods of geophysical exploration, extraction, preparation and study of geological samples);
- methane hydrate activation methods (thermal activation, activation by depressurization, chemical activation, activation by injection and displacement, other activation methods);
- underground drilling or extraction;
- underwater drilling or capture;
- treatment & transportation;
- infrastructure & security
Here you can find a breakdown of patent documents by year, major patent offices, leading applicants; lists of IPC subgroups; problems mentioned; lists of main groups of identical unified indicators; description and analysis of individual patent documents.
The conclusion contains comparative statistical data with the evaluation of the existing trends both for the industry of methane production from hydrates in general and for separate technological indicators.
The annex contains a list of patent document numbers distributed by patent offices.
We hope that this review will be helpful to many inventors and researchers, engineers, students and post-graduates, investors and managers of energy companies, whose creative interests are related to the problems of understanding the nature and behaviour of methane hydrates, and inclusion thereof into the world energy balance.
Disclaimer
This patent review was prepared by EnerTechUp company, and includes patent documents that were carefully collected from publicly-available sources and, according to the authors, represents the latest innovations in the particular energy industry to the greatest degree, as of the date the report was prepared. 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 present report can’t 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.
