Matrix Acidising and Acid Fracturing Patents: Who Leads and Where the Field Is Still Open
59.2% concentration. The top five assignees alone account for 1,764 of the 2,978 records in scope — this is a field with a narrow set of incumbents, not a fragmented one. Filings ran 117 in 2017 and peaked at 121 in 2018, holding roughly steady through the low-to-mid hundreds annually before the 2021-2024 window (41 to 48, +17%) that current data can read as complete. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in under the publication-lag effect and should not be read as a decline.
- 1HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC613
- 2SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY BV367
- 3SCHLUMBERGER TECH CORP357
- 4BAKER HUGHES CO215
- 5SCHLUMBERGER CANADA LTD212
See the full matrix acidising and acid fracturing 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 matrix acidising and acid fracturing patents
Who holds the most patents in matrix acidising and acid fracturing?
The patent record is heavily concentrated: the leading assignee holds 613 of the 2,978 records in scope, and the top five combined hold 59.2% of all records. This is dominated by large oilfield-services groups and their subsidiary filing entities, alongside a national oil company. The concentration is steep enough that a freedom-to-operate review can reasonably start with the ranked leaders before widening to the long tail below rank ten.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing down?
On the most recent window that can be treated as complete, filing is growing: 2021 filings numbered 41 and 2024 filings numbered 48, a +17% increase. Filing counts for 2025 and 2026 look lower only because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so those years are still filling in. The historical peak so far was 2018 at 121 filings, and the field has not returned to that level, but the recent trend is upward, not downward.
What technology areas do these patents actually cover?
Most records carry claims in C09K, materials for miscellaneous applications, covering 73.1% of the 2,978 records — this is the acid systems, retarders, diverting agents and chelating chemistry itself. Just under half, 49.7%, also carry E21B claims covering the drilling and wells hardware and methods used to deliver treatment downhole. Smaller shares touch corrosion and metal-removal chemistry, metal extraction, water treatment and detergent-type compositions, reflecting the overlap between acid-treatment fluids and adjacent industrial chemistry.
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 Matrix Acidising and Acid Fracturing 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.