NMR Logging Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has cooled from its 2019 peak. 70 records that year against 47 in 2017, with the tracked 2021→2024 span down 64% (39 to 14) as the field matures.
- One family group dominates the ranking. The leading assignee holds 349 records against 218 at fifth place and just 39 at tenth, a steep early drop-off followed by a long tail.
- Nearly all activity sits in two IPC subclasses. G01V (geophysics) and G01R (electric/magnetic measurement) cover 85.4% and 51.9% of the 1,714 records, while data-processing classes stay under 3%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (39 records) with 2024 (14) — 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.
What the NMR logging patent record shows
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging patents cover tools and methods for measuring relaxation time distributions, bound and free fluid volumes, and hydrogen index in downhole formations, then turning those measurements into porosity and permeability estimates. The scope here spans 1,714 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search built around NMR relaxation time, T2 distribution, diffusion editing and permeability estimation terms. Because publication trails filing by roughly eighteen months, the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity.
Coverage concentrates in oilfield services rather than academic or software players, and the receiving-office mix points to a market still centred on US filings with meaningful PCT, UK, European and Canadian activity behind it.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,714-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how that volume splits across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings ran from 47 in 2017 to a peak of 70 in 2019, then eased through the early 2020s; the tracked 2021→2024 window fell 64% (39 to 14 records). 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in under the publication lag and should not be read as a continued decline.
IPC subclass distribution
G01V (geophysics and gravity surveying) appears on 85.4% of the 1,714 records and G01R (electric and magnetic measurement) on 51.9%, confirming NMR logging is claimed primarily as a physical measurement discipline. E21B (drilling) and G01N (material analysis) each sit near a fifth of records, while AI-flagged G06N and commerce-flagged G06Q barely register, at 0.9% and 0.4% respectively.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,714 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Logging with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about nuclear magnetic resonance logging and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this dataset
US10379249B2 — Oil viscosity prediction
The patent describes obtaining viscosity data and NMR relaxation time distribution data for oil samples, correlating that data against an NMR relaxation time geometric mean, and deriving a geometric mean intrinsic value using apparent hydrogen index and echo spacing terms. Electromagnetic energy is then transmitted into a formation to determine relaxation time distributions for in-situ oil, using the correlation to predict viscosity without physical sample recovery.Filed by Halliburton Energy Services, published 2019-08-13.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5498960A | NMR logging of natural gas in reservoirs | 407 |
| 2 | US5497087A | NMR logging of natural gas reservoirs | 369 |
| 3 | US6094048A | NMR logging of natural gas reservoirs | 298 |
| 4 | US6346813B1 | Magnetic resonance method for characterizing fluid samples withdrawn from subsurface formations | 274 |
| 5 | US5055787A | Borehole measurement of NMR characteristics of earth formations | 250 |
| 6 | US5486762A | Apparatus including multi-wait time pulsed NMR logging method for determining accurate T2-distributions and a… | 240 |
| 7 | US5291137A | Processing method and apparatus for processing spin echo in-phase and quadrature amplitudes from a pulsed nuc… | 188 |
| 8 | US5796252A | Nuclear magnetic resonance borehole logging apparatus and method for ascertaining a volume of hydrocarbons in… | 178 |
| 9 | US5705927A | Pulsed nuclear magnetism tool for formation evaluation while drilling including a shortened or truncated CPMG… | 175 |
| 10 | US5055788A | Borehole measurement of NMR characteristics of earth formations | 171 |
Citation counts are pulled from within this searched corpus and favour older, foundational filings; treat them as a signal of influence rather than of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the data means for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once record counts, IPC shares and the assignee ranking are read together.
Volume has pulled back from its 2019 high
Filings peaked at 70 in 2019 and the tracked 2021-to-2024 window shows a 64% drop, from 39 down to 14 records. That is consistent with a technology where core measurement claims are already staked out and remaining filings narrow toward specific processing or calibration steps rather than new tool architectures.
A steep drop after the leading names
The leading assignee in the 100-company ranking holds 349 records, fifth place holds 218, and by tenth place the count is down to 39. That shape signals a handful of oilfield service majors set the claim baseline early, with the remaining ranked companies filing in a long, thinner tail.
Claims cluster in two measurement classes
G01V and G01R together dominate the class distribution, while G06F, G01F, G06N and G06Q collectively sit under 3% each. Data-processing and AI-flagged filings remain a small fraction of the corpus, which is where interpretation and workflow claims still have room to be written.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to nuclear magnetic resonance logging, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
Oilfield service majors and their corporate entity variants dominate the ranked assignee list, with recent-year filing activity flat to zero across the largest names.
Largest single assignee position
The top-ranked assignee's 349 records sit well ahead of the field, reflecting decades of continuous NMR tool and method filing across multiple corporate entity names for the same corporate family.
A second tier still filing at volume
Fifth place in the ranking holds 218 records, showing that claim activity is not limited to a single company even though the gap to the leader is large.
Leading names show no recent-year filings
Several of the highest-ranked assignees, including major oilfield service entities, show zero filings in the latest tracked year, a pattern consistent with the broader post-2019 pullback rather than any single company exiting the field.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Schlumberger Technology Corp | 0 | -100% |
| Baker Hughes Holdings LLC | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Technology B.V. | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Holdings Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Canada Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a mature core and a thinner set of open branches; the next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate or new filing.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leading holders
With claim density concentrated in G01V and G01R and a steep drop after the top few assignees, any new filing on core relaxation-time or hydrogen-index measurement should be checked against the leading holders' full family, not just the most-cited patents.
Run a freedom-to-operate search in EurekaTrack the under-claimed processing branches
AI-based inversion, real-time calibration and drilling-telemetry data fusion sit under 3% of records each, leaving room for narrowly drafted processing and workflow claims even where the underlying physics is heavily claimed.
Explore white space with EurekaWatch for the 2025-26 filing catch-up
Because publication lags filing by about eighteen months, the apparent drop in 2025-26 counts will partly fill in over the next reporting cycles; re-check the trend before concluding the field has permanently slowed.
Set an alert on new NMR logging filings in EurekaCommon questions about NMR logging patents
The assignee ranking for this dataset is led by one company with 349 records, well ahead of fifth place at 218 and tenth place at 39. Because oilfield service majors often file under several corporate entity names for the same corporate family, a single practical owner can appear as multiple names in the raw ranking. Anyone doing freedom-to-operate work should check the full family tree behind the top names rather than relying on the entity label alone.
No: filings peaked at 70 records in 2019, and the tracked 2021-to-2024 window shows a 64% decline, from 39 down to 14. That said, publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any chart are still incomplete and should not be read as proof of continued decline. The honest reading is a field that cooled from its late-2010s peak, with the very latest data too thin to call.
Within the 1,714 records in scope, 85.4% carry the G01V geophysics and gravity-surveying class and 51.9% carry G01R for electric and magnetic measurement, confirming that most claims describe the physical measurement itself. Smaller shares touch E21B drilling (22.2%) and G01N material analysis (21.6%), while data-processing and AI-related classes such as G06F and G06N stay under 3% each. That leaves computational interpretation of NMR data comparatively under-claimed relative to the core measurement hardware and methods.
US10379249B2, assigned to Halliburton Energy Services and published in 2019, claims a method for predicting heavy-oil viscosity by correlating NMR relaxation time geometric mean data against measured viscosity, then using apparent hydrogen index and echo spacing to derive an intrinsic value applicable to in-situ formation oil. It is a processing and correlation patent built on top of standard relaxation-time measurement rather than a claim on the underlying NMR hardware itself. Anyone building viscosity-prediction workflows from NMR relaxation data should read its claim scope closely before replicating the same correlation approach.
The clearest gaps sit in the processing and interpretation layer: G06N (AI-based computing) covers only 0.9% of the 1,714 records and G06Q (business/administrative data processing) just 0.4%, against 85.4% for the core G01V measurement class. That imbalance suggests narrowly drafted claims on AI-based T2 inversion, real-time calibration, or NMR-telemetry data fusion face less crowded prior art than claims on the measurement physics itself, even though the physics classes remain the most heavily filed overall.
Research Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Logging in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole nuclear magnetic resonance logging corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.