Digital Well Surveillance Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- Top-heavy field. the top 5 assignees hold 54.0% of all 250 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 75.6% — leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
- Filings accelerated sharply. recorded filings grew from 4 in 2021 to 17 in 2024, a +325% rise over that three-year span, before publication lag thins out 2025-2026.
- Software classes are catching up with hardware. E21B (wells) still covers 54.8% of records, but G06F data-processing and G06N AI-model classes already sit at 21.6% and 10.4% respectively.
Filing growth compares 2021 (4 records) with 2024 (17) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 250 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
This landscape tracks 250 published patent records at the intersection of virtual flow metering, multiphase flow metering, and production allocation, matched against flow-rate estimation, data reconciliation, nodal analysis, downhole pressure data, choke flow coefficient, and gas-oil ratio methods. It spans filings from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, covering the period in which digital surveillance moved from standalone metering hardware toward software-driven estimation and reconciliation layered on top of existing well infrastructure.
The scope deliberately pairs a physical measurement vocabulary (flow metering, downhole pressure, choke coefficients) with a computational one (data reconciliation, nodal analysis, statistical estimation), which is why the technology composition below shows drilling-related E21B classifications sitting alongside data-processing and AI-model classes rather than one dominating the other.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 250-record set: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the underlying inventions are classified under.
A sharp rebound after a quiet stretch
Filings peaked at 24 in 2017, then cooled before climbing again from 4 in 2021 to 17 in 2024 — a +325% increase over that span. Treat 2025 and 2026 as undercounted rather than declining: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent two years are still filling in.
Wells still anchor the field, but data processing is rising
E21B (earth and rock drilling / wells) appears in 54.8% of the 250 records, confirming that most inventions still attach to physical well operations. G06F electric data processing (21.6%), G01F flow measuring (17.2%), G06Q business/admin processing (10.8%) and G06N AI-model computing (10.4%) show a meaningful software and analytics layer building on top of that base, with G01V geophysics, G01N material analysis and G06G analogue computing rounding out the smaller specialist branches.
Shares are the percentage of the 250 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Digital Well and Production Surveillance with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about digital well and production surveillance and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this dataset
Well testing and monitoring (US11408270B2, Sensia LLC, 2022-08-09)
A technique facilitates testing and monitoring of a well. An artificial lift system is operated to produce a well fluid, and data is collected as the artificial lift system is operated at different flow rates. The data collected at the different, e.g. varying, flow rates is used in estimating flow performance and to enable continued monitoring of the well. In some applications, the data may be obtained by utilizing a virtual flow metering technique.Notable for tying virtual flow metering directly to artificial-lift operating data rather than to a dedicated multiphase meter, which is one reason it sits close to several of the most-cited records in this set.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20180202264A1 | Method for estimating oil/gas production using statistical learning models | 123 |
| 2 | US20120095733A1 | Methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer-readable mediums for integrated production optimization | 67 |
| 3 | US20140208826A1 | Reservoir Sampling Tools and Methods | 55 |
| 4 | US20140250999A1 | Method and system for reservoir surveillance utilizing a clumped isotope and/or noble gas data | 52 |
| 5 | US20210181374A1 | Modelling of oil and gas networks | 41 |
| 6 | WO2017139271A2 | Method for estimating oil/gas production using statistical learning models | 39 |
| 7 | US20090198477A1 | Method For Comparing And Back Allocating Production | 37 |
| 8 | US20160265341A1 | Well testing and monitoring | 35 |
| 9 | US20090254569A1 | Systems and Methods for Real Time Data Management in a Collaborative Environment | 34 |
| 10 | WO2019110851A1 | Modelling of oil and gas networks | 30 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, trend and IPC composition are read together.
A small group holds most of the claim space
The leader alone accounts for 40 records, with fifth place at 15 and tenth place at 9 — a steep drop-off after the top few names. New entrants are competing for space among 50 companies holding the remaining share, not against a flat field.
Growth is real but recent, and undercounted at the edges
The +325% rise from 2021 to 2024 marks the fastest sustained climb in the trend. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent drop-off into 2025-2026 is a reporting artefact, not evidence the field is cooling.
Software and AI classes are no longer a side note
Alongside a majority E21B well-operations base (54.8%), over a fifth of records also carry a G06F data-processing class and roughly one in ten an AI-model G06N class — a sign that estimation and reconciliation logic is increasingly claimed as its own invention, not as an appendix to hardware.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to digital well and production surveillance, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) | Saudi Aramco Services Company | 5 |
| Schlumberger Technology Corporation | Schlumberger Canada Limited | 3 |
| Schlumberger Technology Corporation | Schlumberger Limited | 3 |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) | PITA JORGE A | 2 |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) | DOGRU ALI H | 2 |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) | ARAMCO AMERICAS | 2 |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) | AL ZAMEL NABIL M | 2 |
| ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company | ROBINSON AMELIA C | 2 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pairings link a single operator to its own affiliated entities — suggesting most collaboration here is corporate-family co-filing rather than cross-company joint development.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits for new entrants
With three-quarters of records held by ten assignees, a newcomer's realistic opening is not the core virtual-flow-metering claim space but the adjacent estimation and reconciliation layers that have not yet been heavily claimed.
The top filer holds a clear lead
The leading assignee's 40 records sit well above fifth place at 15, giving it a wide first-mover buffer in core flow-metering and allocation claims.
A tight cluster just below the leader
Positions five through ten sit close together, indicating an active but not yet settled second tier where filing position could still shift.
Most ranked companies hold small positions
The bulk of the 60 ranked companies sit outside the top 10, each with a handful of records — typical of a field where service companies, operators and software vendors are all filing but few have built a defensive portfolio yet.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Landmark Graphics Corp | 0 | — |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) | 0 | — |
| ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company | 0 | — |
| General Electric Co | 0 | — |
| Solution Seeker AS | 0 | -100% |
| Rockwell Automation Asia Pacific Business Center Pte Ltd | 0 | — |
| ConocoPhillips Co | 0 | — |
| RESMAN AS | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The ranking and trend lines answer who and how much; deciding where to file or invest next means testing specific claim language against this same corpus.
Check freedom-to-operate on a specific claim idea
Run a candidate claim for a flow-estimation or reconciliation method against the 250 records in scope before drafting, rather than after.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaTrack the mid-field assignees for shifts
Positions five through ten are close enough that a few filings could reorder them — worth monitoring rather than assuming the ranking is settled.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaDraft into the under-claimed branches
Isotope-based surveillance, analogue-computer nodal analysis and AI-driven gas-oil ratio prediction show lower filing density than the core metering claims.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaCommon questions about this patent landscape
One assignee leads the ranking with 40 of the 250 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 15 and tenth place at 9. The top 5 assignees together account for 54.0% of all 250 records, and the top 10 account for 75.6%, so filing activity is concentrated among a small group even though 60 companies appear in the ranking overall. That leaves the remaining companies holding small, single-digit positions rather than competing on equal footing with the leaders.
Filings grew sharply from 4 in 2021 to 17 in 2024, a +325% increase, after an earlier peak of 24 in 2017 and a quieter middle period. The apparent decline shown for 2025 and 2026 is not a real slowdown — publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so those years are still incomplete in any patent database. 2024 is the most recent year that can be treated as a reliable data point.
E21B, the classification for earth and rock drilling and well operations, covers 54.8% of the 250 records, confirming that most inventions are still anchored to physical well hardware and operations. Software and analytics classes are substantial but secondary: G06F data processing appears in 21.6% of records, G01F flow measurement in 17.2%, and G06N AI-model computing in 10.4%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read as overlapping technology layers, not a single pie chart.
The lower-density IPC branches point to it: G06G analogue-computer nodal analysis sits at just 4.8% of records, and G01N material analysis at 6.0%, both well below the core E21B and G06F classes. Combined with the co-assignee data showing only 10 co-filing pairs in the whole dataset, there is limited evidence of dense cross-company claiming in areas like clumped-isotope reservoir surveillance or AI-driven gas-oil ratio estimation. These are reasonable places to test a first claim before committing to the more heavily claimed core metering space.
Not directly. The most-cited records in this dataset, including one on statistical-learning production estimation cited 123 times, were published earlier and have simply had more time to accumulate citations within this searched corpus. High citation counts are a reasonable signal of historical influence on later filings, but they understate the importance of recent work, including the 2022-2024 filings that are still building their citation record. Pair citation data with the filing-trend numbers rather than relying on it alone.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.