Multiphase & Wet Gas Metering Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- 48.1% of all filings sit with just five assignees out of the 1,236 records in scope — a tight cluster around subsea and oilfield service leaders.
- Filings fell 57% from 72 in 2021 to 31 in 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete.
- G01F and E21B dominate flow-measurement and wellbore classes cover 55.4% and 37.1% of records respectively, leaving AI-based computing (G06N, 2.3%) and control systems (G05B, 2.5%) comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (72 records) with 2024 (31) — 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 1,236 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What multiphase and wet gas metering patents actually cover
Multiphase flow meters measure oil, gas and water simultaneously as they move through a pipeline, without first separating the phases. The patent activity in this dataset clusters around phase-fraction determination, gamma densitometry, water-cut sensing and the model tuning and field verification steps that make a lab-calibrated meter trustworthy once it is installed on a live well. Salinity effects on conductivity-based water-cut readings show up repeatedly as a named claim element, which points to a persistent measurement-accuracy problem rather than a solved one.
The 1,236 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 cutoff, drawn largely from oilfield services and subsea equipment applicants. Filing activity peaked in 2018 and has since receded, though the two most recent years understate true activity because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,236-record corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filings peaked in 2018, then declined
Annual filings ran from 34 in 2017 to a peak of 80 in 2018. The dataset's own growth figure — 72 filings in 2021 down to 31 in 2024, a 57% drop — is the most defensible read of the recent trajectory; 2025 and 2026 are still filling in and should not be read as a continued decline.
G01F and E21B carry the bulk of claim density
Flow, level and volume measuring (G01F) appears in 55.4% of records and earth/rock drilling (E21B) in 37.1%, confirming this is fundamentally a wellbore-instrumentation field. Material analysis (G01N) at 31.0% reflects sensor-physics claims, while AI-based computing (G06N, 2.3%) and control/regulating systems (G05B, 2.5%) are present but thin — a record can carry multiple classes, so these shares sum to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,236 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Multiphase and Wet Gas Metering with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about multiphase and wet gas metering and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe documents setting the citation baseline
GB2569322A — Sampling module for multiphase flow meter
A sampling module for mounting in a pipeline alongside a multiphase flow meter, built around a vertical separation chamber with upper and lower valves controlling fluid paths to the pipeline, and lower and upper sensors measuring fluid properties within the separated volume. The design lets an operator draw and analyse a physically separated sample without disrupting the main multiphase measurement, which is the practical bottleneck in verifying a meter's readings against a ground-truth sample in the field.Filed by Equinor Energy AS, published 2019-06-19.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6782150B2 | Apparatus for sensing fluid in a pipe | 221 |
| 2 | US6601458B1 | Distributed sound speed measurements for multiphase flow measurement | 219 |
| 3 | US6234030B1 | Multiphase metering method for multiphase flow | 195 |
| 4 | US6318156B1 | Multiphase flow measurement system | 194 |
| 5 | US6813962B2 | Distributed sound speed measurements for multiphase flow measurement | 165 |
| 6 | US20080163692A1 | System and method for using one or more thermal sensor probes for flow analysis, flow assurance and pipe cond… | 159 |
| 7 | US20080163700A1 | Sensor system for pipe and flow condition monitoring of a pipeline configured for flowing hydrocarbon mixtures | 151 |
| 8 | US6655221B1 | Measuring multiphase flow in a pipe | 148 |
| 9 | US20150027730A1 | Well tree hub and interface for retrievable processing modules | 145 |
| 10 | US20080319685A1 | Systems and Methods For Measuring Multiphase Flow in a Hydrocarbon Transporting Pipeline | 128 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate references — read them as a signal of foundational influence, not of what is competitively current today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three figures worth acting on before drafting claims in this space.
The top of the field is genuinely crowded
Five assignees hold 594 of the 1,236 records in scope. That concentration sits mostly with subsea and oilfield-service names, so a new entrant filing on core phase-fraction or densitometry claims is filing directly into occupied space.
Volume has cooled from its 2018 peak
Filings dropped from 72 in 2021 to 31 in 2024, continuing a decline from the 2018 peak of 80. Treat 2025-2026 figures as incomplete rather than as evidence the field is dying — publication lag alone explains most of the recent drop-off.
AI-based interpretation is still a thin layer
Only 29 records carry a G06N classification against 685 for core flow measurement (G01F). Model tuning appears repeatedly in the search criteria as a named step, but relatively few filings formalise it as a machine-learning claim — that gap is still open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to multiphase and wet gas metering, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it thins out
Filing concentration and recent momentum both point the same direction: a small set of oilfield-service and subsea names hold the core measurement claims, while momentum has gone flat across the board in the latest tracked year.
One name sets the baseline
The leading assignee's 190 records is more than double the fifth-place total of 81, establishing a clear ceiling for how dense a single portfolio can get in this field before a challenger even needs to be considered a serious competitor.
A steep drop after the top five
Tenth place sits at 48 records versus fifth place at 81 — filings fall off fast outside the top cluster, and the top 10 combined still only reach 71.4% of the 1,236 records in scope, leaving a genuine long tail below them.
Recent-year filings have gone quiet across the board
Every one of the tracked leading assignees shows zero filings in the latest tracked year, with some recording a full -100% year-on-year drop. This is consistent with publication lag rather than a genuine stop in R&D, but it does mean the newest public claims are thin right now.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) | 0 | -100% |
| Schlumberger Technology B.V. | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Technology Corp | 0 | -100% |
| Services Petroliers Schlumberger SA | 0 | — |
| Micro Motion Inc | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Holdings Ltd | 0 | — |
| Expro Meters Inc | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Canada Ltd | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The figures above describe the field as filed. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific competitors.
Map claims against your own architecture
Run your specific sensor or separation approach against the densest IPC classes here — G01F, E21B and G01N — to see which elements are already occupied and which are open.
Explore in EurekaTrack the leaders' recent activity
Zero recent-year filings across the ranked leaders is likely a publication-lag artefact rather than a stop in R&D; monitoring filings as they publish will clarify whether the field is genuinely cooling.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on multiphase and wet gas metering patents
Filing activity in this field is concentrated among oilfield-service and subsea equipment companies, with the leading assignee holding 190 of the 1,236 records in the ranking and the top five combined accounting for 48.1% of all records in scope. That concentration falls off quickly after the top group — tenth place holds only 48 records — leaving a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants below the leaders. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should expect the densest claim coverage to sit with that small leading cluster rather than being spread evenly across the field.
Filings peaked in 2018 at 80 and have declined since, with the dataset showing a 57% drop from 72 filings in 2021 to 31 in 2024, the most recent year that can be treated as complete. The 2025 and 2026 figures are understated because patent publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months, so they should not be read as proof of a continuing decline. The honest read is that filing volume has cooled from its 2018 peak, not that R&D activity has stopped.
Flow, level and volume measurement (IPC class G01F) appears in 55.4% of the 1,236 records, and earth and rock drilling equipment (E21B) appears in 37.1%, confirming that this is primarily a wellbore-instrumentation field rather than a pure sensor-physics one. Material analysis and testing (G01N) covers 31.0% of records, reflecting the sensor and calibration work behind phase-fraction and water-cut measurement. AI-based computing (G06N) and control/regulating systems (G05B) are present but thin, at 2.3% and 2.5% respectively, since a single record can carry more than one classification these shares add up to more than 100%.
GB2569322A, filed by Equinor Energy AS and published in 2019, claims a sampling module with a vertical separation chamber and upper and lower valves and sensors for drawing and analysing a physical fluid sample alongside a multiphase flow meter. It is specific to that separation-chamber sampling architecture rather than to phase-fraction measurement generally, so it constrains designs that use a similar vertical-chamber sampling approach for field verification more than it blocks multiphase metering as a whole. Anyone designing a field-verification or sampling subsystem should read its claim scope closely rather than assuming it covers the broader category.
The thinnest IPC coverage relative to the core measurement classes sits in AI-based computing (G06N, 2.3% of records) and control and regulating systems (G05B, 2.5%), even though model tuning is a named element in the underlying search criteria. Salinity-compensated water-cut sensing and calibration-drift correction for gamma densitometers also show up as recurring problems in the abstracts without a dense cluster of dedicated claims. These are reasonable starting points for a novelty search, though they should be verified against the full claim text before treating them as genuinely open.
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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.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
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.