Coalbed Methane Production Patents: Filing Trends and Leading Assignees
40.4% of all 94 records sit with just five assignees, and 68.1% sit with ten — a field with a concentrated core and a long single-filer tail. Filings rose from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 7 in 2023, then registered 3 in 2024 — a -50% change from the 6 filed in 2021. Years after 2024 are still filling in under the roughly 18-month publication lag, so they should not be read as a declining trend yet.
- 1YATES GASOLINEEUM CORP11
- 2YATES HOLDINGS LLP7
- 3SCHLUMBERGER HLDG LTD7
- 4ANHUI UNIV OF SCI & TECH7
- 5PRAD RES & DEV LTD6
See the full coalbed methane production 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 about coalbed methane patents
Who holds the most coalbed methane patents?
The dataset's top-ranked assignee holds 11 of the 94 records in scope, with the count dropping to 6 by fifth place and 4 by tenth place among 57 ranked companies. This is a moderately concentrated field: the top five assignees together hold 40.4% of all records and the top ten hold 68.1%, but no single company dominates outright. Oilfield-services groups and a handful of Chinese research institutes and universities make up most of the ranked leaders.
Is coalbed methane patent filing activity growing or slowing?
Filings rose from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 7 in 2023, then fell to 3 in 2024, a -50% change over that three-year span using the last two complete filing years. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not yet be read as a downward trend. A clearer read on the 2024-2026 trajectory will only be possible once those later years finish publishing.
Which technology areas get the most patent claims in coalbed methane?
Earth and rock drilling (IPC class E21B) appears on 60.6% of the 94 records, and material analysis and testing (G01N) appears on 50.0%, meaning most claims combine a well-construction or completion method with a way to measure or predict reservoir properties. Mine safety and ventilation (E21F) and specialty materials (C09K) form smaller secondary clusters. Data-processing classes such as geophysics survey and business-process filings remain comparatively thin, which is where less-crowded claim space tends to sit.
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 Coalbed Methane Production 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.