Expandable Tubular Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Expandable and Solid Expandable Tubular Patents
Concentrated at the top. the five leading assignees hold 59.7% of all 1,840 records in scope, and the top ten hold 73.5% — this is a field with a small set of gatekeepers, not a fragmented one. Filings peaked in 2019 at 58 records and have since eased; the 2021-to-2024 comparison (14 to 11 records, -21%) is the most recent window not distorted by publication lag, since records from 2025 onward are still being published.
- 1HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC343
- 2SHELL INTERNATIONALE RESEARCH MAATSCHAPPIJ BV246
- 3ENVENTURE GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY LLC228
- 4WEATHERFORD TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS LLC182
- 5WELLTEC OILFIELD SOLUTIONS AG99
See the full expandable and solid expandable tubulars 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 this landscape
Who are the leading patent holders in expandable tubular technology?
This dataset’s assignee ranking shows a single leader with 343 of the 1,840 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 99 and the tenth at 30. The top five assignees combined hold 59.7% of all records, and the top ten hold 73.5%, so the field is dominated by a small group of major oilfield service and operator companies rather than spread evenly across many filers. Anyone entering this space should benchmark against that leading portfolio first, since it represents the densest concentration of prior claims.
Is filing activity in expandable tubulars growing or shrinking?
Filings peaked in 2019 at 58 records and the most recent complete comparison window, 2021 to 2024, shows an 11% drop in absolute terms and a 21% relative decline (14 records down to 11). However, because patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the years 2025 and 2026 in this dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of a continued decline. A fair read is that the field has cooled somewhat from its 2019 high, with the most recent trend still unresolved.
What is a solid expandable tubular and why does it get classified with medical device patents?
A solid expandable tubular is a pipe or casing section that is run downhole at a reduced diameter and then radially expanded in place, typically using an expansion cone, to restore or increase wellbore diameter. The expansion-cone and radial-seal mechanics involved are closely related to those used in vascular stents and grafts, which is why 9.7% of records in this dataset also carry an A61F implants and prostheses classification, and why the most-cited prior art in the corpus is medical stent and graft patents rather than drilling patents.
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 Expandable and Solid Expandable Tubulars 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.