Automated Directional Drilling Control Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Automated Directional Drilling Control Patents: Who Leads and Where Filings Are Slowing
Concentrated at the top. the top 5 assignees hold 334 of 610 records in scope (54.8%), and the top 10 hold 79.3% — a small group has occupied most of the claim space. Filings climbed from 17 in 2017 to a peak of 67 in 2020, then declined through the last complete year of data: 2021's 31 fell to 2024's 5, an 84% drop. Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 counts are understated and should not be read as a continued decline yet.
- 1HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC76
- 2SHELL INTERNATIONALE RESEARCH MAATSCHAPPIJ BV72
- 3SCHLUMBERGER TECH CORP72
- 4LANDMARK GRAPHICS CORP63
- 5BAKER HUGHES CO51
See the full automated directional drilling control analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on this landscape
Who holds the most patents in automated directional drilling control?
The ranked field covers 84 companies, and the top-ranked assignee holds 76 of the 610 records in scope. The top 5 assignees together account for 334 records, or 54.8% of the field, while the top 10 reach 79.3%. This is a concentrated field: oilfield services majors and their affiliated entities hold most of the claim territory, and the ranking drops off steeply past the top 10.
Is patent filing in this space still growing?
No — filing peaked in 2020 at 67 records and declined through the last year treatable as complete, falling from 31 in 2021 to 5 in 2024, an 84% drop. Because publication typically lags actual filing by about 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures in this dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence the field has stopped. The safest read is that the field cooled after 2020 rather than continuing to accelerate.
What technology areas do these patents actually cover?
E21B (earth and rock drilling) appears on 93.4% of the 610 records, reflecting that most filings are anchored in physical drilling assembly claims. Control and computing classes are present but smaller: G05B control systems at 9.8%, G01V geophysics at 9.5%, G06F data processing at 6.1%, and G06N AI-based computing at 3.9%. Because records often carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Directional Drilling Control covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.