Drill String Torque and Drag Patents: Who Leads 2026
Drill String Torque and Drag Modelling Patents
57.1% concentration. The top 5 of 89 ranked assignees hold 372 of 651 records in scope — over half the field sits with a handful of oilfield service majors. Filings rose to a peak of 43 in 2020, then fell sharply — 31 in 2021 down to 3 in 2024, a documented -90% move. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because of publication lag and should not be read as a continued decline.
- 1LANDMARK GRAPHICS CORP147
- 2HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC74
- 3WESTERN WELL TOOL62
- 4NABORS DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES USA INC53
- 5SCHLUMBERGER TECH CORP36
See the full drill string torque and drag modelling 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 drill string torque and drag modelling?
One assignee leads clearly with 147 of the 651 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 36. The top 5 of 89 ranked assignees together hold 372 records, or 57.1% of the field, and the top 10 hold 514 records, or 79.0%. This is a concentrated field where a small number of oilfield service majors dominate the core soft-string and stiff-string claim space.
Are drill string torque and drag modelling patent filings still growing?
No — filings peaked at 43 in 2020 and fell sharply afterward, dropping from 31 in 2021 to 3 in 2024, a documented -90% change over that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent years should not be read as confirmation of continued decline, only as not-yet-complete. The pattern through 2024, combined with zero recent-year filings from the leading assignees, points to a field where core claims are largely established.
What technology areas overlap with torque and drag modelling patents?
Almost all records, 93.7% of the 651 in scope, sit in IPC class E21B covering earth and rock drilling operations, confirming this is fundamentally a drilling-operations technology. Smaller but notable overlaps exist with G06F data processing (10.0%), G05B control and regulating systems (3.5%), and G01V geophysical surveying (2.6%). Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100% and should be read as overlap shares, not as a breakdown of the whole field.
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 Drill String Torque and Drag Modelling 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.