Shale Reservoir Characterisation Patents: Who Leads, Gaps 2026
Shale reservoir characterisation patents: who holds the claim space and where it opens up
Five assignees hold 71.3% of the field. 107 of 150 records in scope sit with the top five ranked assignees, leaving a long tail of single-digit filers behind them. Filings rose to a peak of 28 in 2018, then eased. The only clean year-over-year comparison the data supports is 2021 to 2024, where filings fell from 10 to 5 records, a 50% drop. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a continued decline.
- 1SAUDI ARABIAN OIL CO47
- 2SCHLUMBERGER TECH CORP26
- 3EQUINOR ENERGY AS13
- 4ARAMCO SERVICES CO11
- 5LANDMARK GRAPHICS CORP10
See the full shale reservoir characterisation 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 shale reservoir characterisation patents
Who holds the most patents in shale reservoir characterisation?
The ranking of 36 companies is heavily top-loaded: the leading assignee holds 47 of the 150 records in scope, and the top five together hold 107 records, or 71.3% of the field. This is dominated by a national oil company alongside major oilfield services groups and their regional subsidiaries. A filer entering this space should expect to be measured against a small number of very large portfolios rather than a broad, fragmented field.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing?
Filing peaked at 28 records in 2018 and the clearest recent comparison, 2021 to 2024, shows a drop from 10 to 5 records, a 50% decline. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so it would be premature to call the trend still falling based on the very latest years. The honest read is a pullback from a 2018 peak rather than a currently accelerating or currently collapsing field.
What patent classes cover shale reservoir characterisation technology?
The two largest IPC subclasses are G01V (geophysics and gravity surveying) at 41.3% of the 150 records and E21B (earth and rock drilling for wells) at 40.7%, with G01N (material analysis and testing) at 31.3%. Software and AI-related classes are much smaller: G06F reaches 9.3% and G06N, covering AI-based computing, only 4.0%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100% and should not be summed together.
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 Shale Reservoir Characterisation 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.