In this patent set, rate transient analysis and decline curve analysis are treated as overlapping analytical methods: both infer reservoir or well properties from production rate and pressure data over time, but decline curve analysis typically fits an empirical hyperbolic or exponential decline exponent to forecast future output, while rate transient analysis leans on flow-regime diagnostics like linear flow or pseudo steady state to derive physical reservoir parameters. Patents in this space frequently claim both approaches together, often paired with material balance time or flowing material balance techniques. The classification data shows these methods are usually claimed inside a broader drilling or well-management context (IPC class E21B), not as standalone mathematical methods.

The ranking in this dataset shows one assignee well ahead of the rest, holding 11 of the ranked records, compared with 5 at fifth place and 3 at tenth. Twenty-two companies appear in the ranking overall, and most of them hold only one or two records, which points to a small group of sustained filers surrounded by a long tail of occasional entrants. Because family counts, not raw document counts, drive this ranking, it reflects distinct inventions rather than continuation filings inflating any single assignee's count.

Filing peaked at 8 records in 2020 and then grew again from 4 records in 2021 to 6 in 2024, a 50% increase over that three-year window. Figures for 2025 and 2026 appear lower, but that reflects publication lag of roughly 18 months rather than an actual drop in filing activity, so those final years should not be read as a slowdown. Anyone tracking this space should expect the 2025-2026 counts to rise as more applications publish.

The technology composition skews heavily toward drilling-domain framing, with E21B tagged on 47 records versus just 2 for AI-based computing methods (G06N). That gap suggests claims combining decline-exponent estimation or type curve matching with modern machine-learning techniques are comparatively under-claimed relative to the core diagnostic methods. Multi-well or field-scale type curve matching workflows, and uncertainty quantification around the hyperbolic decline exponent, are similarly thin in this dataset and worth a freedom-to-operate check before assuming the space is occupied.

The United States dominates with 34 records in this set, reflecting the North American origin of most named assignees in the oilfield-services and operator segments. Canada and China each show single-digit counts around 6-7 records, with the United Kingdom, WIPO (PCT) and Australia trailing further behind. A filer targeting global protection in this space should expect the US to carry most of the prior art density, with secondary exposure in Canada and China.