Kick Detection Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- One filer dominates a small field. the leading assignee holds 14 records against a fifth-place count of just 3, out of only 8 ranked companies in total.
- Filing peaked in 2020 at 13 records and has not been matched since, though the most recent years are understated by publication lag.
- Almost everything sits in one IPC subclass. E21B covers 97.4% of the 39 records in scope, leaving control-systems and AI-model classes each under 6%.
What this patent set covers
Kick detection and early warning technology addresses one problem: recognising an unplanned influx of formation fluid into a wellbore before it develops into a blowout. The claims in this set turn on return flow rate, pit volume monitoring, delta flow detection and related signals, paired with automated response logic such as downhole pressure trend analysis and connection gas tracking. The dataset spans 39 published records filed or published between 2015 and 2026.
Most of the activity sits with oilfield service majors and a small set of specialist entrants, with the record concentrated almost entirely in drilling-control hardware and protocol rather than in software or AI framing.
Filing trend and technology composition
The 39 records in scope publish across a decade, concentrated heavily in one drilling-specific IPC subclass and clustered around a peak filing year before recent-year publication lag sets in.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2020, the highest single year in the set. Later years taper off, but the 2025-2026 figures understate real filing activity because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
IPC subclass composition
E21B (earth and rock drilling for wells) appears in 97.4% of the 39 records, confirming this is a drilling-hardware and protocol field first. G01V, G05B and G06N each appear in just 5.1% of records, and G06G in 2.6%, showing that geophysical sensing, closed-loop control and AI-model framing remain minority approaches layered onto a drilling-centric core.
Shares are the percentage of the 39 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Kick Detection and Early Warning with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about kick detection and early warning and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in the field
Automated system and method for use in well control (US20200318464A1)
An automated system for use in well control comprises a controller configured to receive an input signal indicative of a fluid flow rate or fluid volumetric rate from a wellbore. The controller determines from the input signal whether the flow rate or volumetric rate exceeds a preselected threshold indicative of a fluid influx condition, and on that determination automatically outputs command signals initiating an initial well control protocol.Filed by Safe Influx Ltd, published 2020-10-08.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160097270A1 | Integrated Drilling Control System | 98 |
| 2 | US10113408B2 | Integrated drilling control system | 42 |
| 3 | US20200318464A1 | Automated system and method for use in well control | 19 |
| 4 | US20150060054A1 | Modeling and Production of Tight Hydrocarbon Reservoirs | 16 |
| 5 | WO2016054628A1 | Integrated drilling control system and associated method | 15 |
| 6 | WO2017059153A1 | Detection of influx and loss of circulation | 8 |
| 7 | US20180291728A1 | Detection of influx and loss of circulation | 8 |
| 8 | AU2018267575B9 | Integrated drilling control system and associated method | 7 |
| 9 | US20200332642A1 | Downhole kick detection based on power monitoring of shale shaker(s) | 2 |
| 10 | US10920584B2 | Detection of influx and loss of circulation | 2 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
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The signal in this dataset is less about volume than about where the claim density actually sits.
A short ranked list with a wide gap
Only 8 companies appear in the assignee ranking at all, and the leader's 14 records dwarf the fifth-place count of 3. That gap suggests one or two players have built out a broad claim set while the rest hold narrow, specific positions rather than competing head-on for the same claim territory.
Activity crested in 2020
Filing volume climbed from zero in 2017 to a peak of 13 records in 2020, the highest single year across the whole window. Volumes since have not matched that peak, though the most recent years are understated because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months.
Nearly everything is drilling hardware and protocol
E21B (earth and rock drilling for wells) appears in 97.4% of the 39 records in scope. The remaining subclasses — geophysical sensing, control systems, AI-model computing and analogue computing — each sit at 5.1% or below, meaning software-first or AI-first framing of kick detection is still a minority approach layered on a drilling-hardware core.
Filing spreads across several offices evenly
The United States leads with 9 filings, followed by Australia, Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom at 5 each, and WIPO PCT filings at 4. That spread indicates applicants are pursuing multi-jurisdiction protection rather than concentrating on a single home market, consistent with offshore and international drilling operations.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to kick detection and early warning, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
Eight companies make up the entire ranked assignee list for this dataset. Oilfield service majors and their subsidiaries account for most of the co-filing activity, while a specialist entrant holds a distinct automated-response position.
One filer holds a clear lead
The top-ranked assignee holds 14 records, more than four times the fifth-place count of 3. That scale suggests a deliberate, sustained filing programme around kick detection rather than opportunistic single filings.
Safe Influx holds a distinct automated-response claim
Safe Influx Ltd's US20200318464A1 sits among the most-cited records in the set, built around threshold-triggered automatic well control protocols rather than the sensor-integration approach common among the larger service companies. Its recent-year filing count reads zero, consistent with the whole set's momentum figures once publication lag is factored in.
Related Schlumberger entities co-file
The strongest co-assignee pairings in the dataset link a Schlumberger Canada entity with related Schlumberger technology and holding entities, each pairing appearing once. This points to internal group filing structures — a single invention registered jointly across affiliated corporate entities — rather than cross-company collaboration.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Weatherford Technology Holdings, LLC | 0 | — |
| SAFE INFLUX LTD | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Canada Limited | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Technology LLC | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Technology Corporation | 0 | — |
| Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Baker Hughes Holdings LLC | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Limited | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The concentration pattern and the IPC skew both point to specific next steps for a team deciding where to file or where to watch.
Map the leader's claim boundaries
With one assignee holding 14 of the ranked records, understanding exactly which flow-rate and pressure-trend combinations their claims cover is the first step before drafting anything adjacent.
Explore assignee claim scope in EurekaTrack the AI and control-systems minority classes
G06N and G05B each sit at just 5.1% of records, a thin footprint relative to the drilling-hardware core — worth monitoring for early movers before the space fills in.
Monitor emerging IPC classes in EurekaCommon questions about kick detection patents
This category covers systems and methods for identifying an unplanned influx of formation fluid into a wellbore before it escalates. In practice that means claims built around return flow rate monitoring, pit volume monitoring, delta flow detection, downhole pressure trend analysis, surface gas detection and connection gas tracking, often paired with automated control logic that triggers a well control protocol once a threshold is crossed. The dataset behind this page draws on 39 published records filed against exactly this combination of signals.
The ranked assignee list contains 8 companies, dominated by oilfield service majors and their subsidiary entities, with the leading filer holding 14 records against a fifth-place count of just 3. A specialist entrant, Safe Influx Ltd, also holds a distinct position built around automated threshold-triggered well control response. The gap between the leader and the rest of the ranking suggests a small number of sustained filing programmes rather than broad, even competition.
Filing activity climbed from zero records in 2017 to a peak of 13 records in 2020, the highest single year across the full 2015-2026 window tracked here. Filing has not returned to that peak since, though figures for the most recent one to two years are understated because patent publication typically lags the original filing date by around 18 months. Anyone reading the 2025-2026 figures as a decline should treat them as provisional.
US20200318464A1, assigned to Safe Influx Ltd, claims a controller that receives a fluid flow rate or volumetric rate signal from a wellbore, determines whether it exceeds a preselected threshold indicating an influx condition, and automatically outputs command signals to start an initial well control protocol. It is one of the most-cited records in this dataset, meaning it is heavily referenced by later filings. It blocks the specific combination of threshold-based automatic detection plus automatic protocol initiation, though flow-rate monitoring alone or manually-triggered response systems sit outside its core claim.
E21B, the drilling-hardware IPC subclass, covers 97.4% of the 39 records in scope, while AI-model computing (G06N), control systems (G05B) and geophysical sensing (G01V) each sit at only 5.1%, and analogue-computer approaches (G06G) at 2.6%. That gap indicates most patent activity is still framed as drilling equipment and protocol rather than as software, control-loop or AI-driven classification of kick signals. Teams building AI-based influx classification or closed-loop automated choke control are filing into comparatively open claim space today.
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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.
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