Upstream Oil & Gas Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 40.4% of all 213 records sit with just five assignees, so most drilling and corrosion-control claim space near the top is already occupied.
- Filings peaked in 2019 at 38 and the 2021→2024 span shows a 15% pullback (13 to 11), a plateau rather than a collapse once the 18-month publication lag is accounted for.
- E21B drilling and C09K materials cover 39.0% and 28.6% of records respectively, while refining-specific C10G sits at just 5.2% — the thinnest of the tracked classes.
Filing growth compares 2021 (13 records) with 2024 (11) — 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 213 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 213 published patent records filed against a search built around upstream oil and gas operations — well pressure management, formation fluid characterisation, pipeline flow, corrosion rate control, wellbore systems and reservoir fluid behaviour. The scope spans 2015 through the 2026-08-31 data cut-off, with filings concentrated in the years before the most recent, where publication lag has not yet caught up.
The dataset draws on activity across major receiving offices, led by the United States, PCT filings through WIPO, Australia, Europe, Canada and the United Kingdom, giving a reasonably complete picture of where applicants are seeking protection rather than just where they are headquartered.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 213-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across the IPC subclasses that define the technical sub-fields in scope.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Volume rose from 7 records in 2017 to a peak of 38 in 2019, then eased. The 2021-to-2024 window — the most recent span treatable as complete — moved from 13 to 11 records, a 15% decline; 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in under the roughly 18-month publication lag and should not be read as a further drop.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
Drilling and wellbore mechanics (E21B) touch 39.0% of records, the single largest class, followed by materials for misc. applications (C09K) at 28.6% and corrosion and metal removal (C23F) at 21.1%. Separation processes, digital data processing, water treatment, geophysics and refining-specific hydrocarbon processing each cover a smaller but still notable slice, and because records can carry multiple classes these shares add up to well over 100% of the 213-record base.
Shares are the percentage of the 213 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Upstream Oil & Gas Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about upstream oil & gas patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
System and method for applying artificial intelligence techniques to reservoir fluid geodynamics
Embodiments herein include a system and method for modeling and interpreting an evolution of fluids in an oilfield using artificial intelligence. Embodiments may include identifying, using at least one processor, one or more reservoir fluid dynamics processes or properties and generating a model for the one or more reservoir fluid dynamics processes or properties. Embodiments may include receiving, at the model, one or more parameter values corresponding to the one or more reservoir fluid dynamics processes or properties and displaying, at a graphical user interface, one or more results, based upon, at least in part, the model and the one or more parameter values.Filed by Schlumberger Technology Corporation, published 2022-06-16 as US20220187495A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20200183047A1 | Automated Reservoir Modeling Using Deep Generative Networks | 150 |
| 2 | US20070173413A1 | Non-volatile phosphorus hydrocarbon gelling agent | 94 |
| 3 | US20130146288A1 | Method and apparatus to increase recovery of hydrocarbons | 59 |
| 4 | US8084401B2 | Non-volatile phosphorus hydrocarbon gelling agent | 50 |
| 5 | US20180163020A1 | Quaternary cationic polymers | 44 |
| 6 | US20130317791A1 | Hydrodynamic SLUG flow model | 40 |
| 7 | US20180012310A1 | Creating and executing a well construction/operation plan | 35 |
| 8 | US20090205821A1 | Method and apparatus to treat well stimulation fluids In-Situ | 35 |
| 9 | US20200124753A1 | Method and System for Evaluating Variability in Subsurface Models to Support Decision Making for Hydrocarbon … | 33 |
| 10 | US20030042048A1 | Down hole drilling assembly with independent jet pump | 27 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more years to accumulate citations within this corpus; treat them as a signal of influence rather than of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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The concentration and class data point to a field where core mechanical and chemical claim space is well trodden, but digital and refining-adjacent branches remain comparatively open.
The top of the field is dense
Five assignees hold 86 of the 213 records in scope, 40.4% of the total. That level of concentration means new entrants aiming at core drilling or corrosion-control claims are filing into space already covered by a small group of repeat applicants.
Drilling mechanics is the busiest class
E21B (earth and rock drilling for wells) appears in 39.0% of records, the largest single IPC subclass in this set, followed by C09K materials at 28.6%. Both classes carry enough filing density that incremental claims there face a crowded prior-art landscape.
Volume has plateaued, not collapsed
Filings moved from 13 in 2021 to 11 in 2024, a 15% decline over that window, after peaking at 38 in 2019. Given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, years beyond 2024 are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of a further slowdown.
Refining-specific claims are thin
C10G, covering hydrocarbon oils and refining, sits at just 5.2% of records and G01V geophysics at 7.5%, both well behind the drilling and materials classes. That gap is worth checking against adjacent refining and subsurface-imaging filings before assuming it is genuinely open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to upstream oil & gas patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and how the field moves
The ranking covers 45 companies as returned by the data endpoint, not a fixed top-50 or top-100 cut, so the shape of the tail matters as much as the leader.
One clear leader, then a steep drop
The top-ranked assignee holds 30 records, well ahead of fifth place at 10 and tenth place at 9. That gap between first and fifth suggests one applicant has built a materially larger portfolio in this space than any single competitor.
A tight cluster behind the leader
Fifth and tenth place sit close together at 10 and 9 records, indicating a cluster of mid-sized filers rather than a smooth long tail immediately behind the leader. Competitive tracking should watch this cluster for consolidation or new entrants.
Co-filing is rare in this field
Only four co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, the strongest linking two named oilfield services entities on three joint records. Most activity here is filed by single assignees rather than joint ventures or research partnerships.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Ecolab USA Inc. | 0 | — |
| Foret Plasma Labs LLC | 0 | — |
| HUGHES TOOL CO LLC | 0 | — |
| CHAMPIONX LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Gas Liquids Engineering Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations LLC | 0 | — |
| ClearWater International LLC | 0 | — |
| ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a dense top tier and a few visibly thinner branches. The next step is turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Map claims against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 30 of 213 records, a claim-by-claim comparison against that portfolio is the fastest way to see whether a planned filing sits inside or outside their coverage.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaStress-test the under-claimed branches
Refining-specific and digital-modeling classes show lower record counts, but low counts can mean either open space or filings sitting outside this search string. Verify before relying on it.
Run a white space check in EurekaCommon questions about upstream oil & gas patents
In this dataset of 213 records, one assignee leads with 30 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 10. The top five assignees combined account for 86 records, 40.4% of all records in scope, and the top ten reach 62.0%. The ranking covers 45 companies in total, so beyond the leading group there is a long tail of smaller filers with only a handful of records each.
Drilling and wellbore mechanics, IPC class E21B, appears in 39.0% of the 213 records, the single largest technical class in this landscape. Materials for miscellaneous applications (C09K) follows at 28.6% and corrosion and metal removal (C23F) at 21.1%. Because a single record can carry more than one IPC class, these percentages overlap rather than summing to 100%.
Filing volume peaked at 38 records in 2019 and moved from 13 records in 2021 to 11 in 2024, a 15% decline over that three-year window. That is the most recent span that can be treated as complete, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as an ongoing drop. Overall the pattern looks like a plateau after an earlier peak rather than a steady decline.
Hydrocarbon oils and refining (C10G) covers only 5.2% of the 213 records and geophysics and gravity surveying (G01V) sits at 7.5%, both notably thinner than the drilling and materials classes. Digital data processing (G06F) at 9.9% and water treatment (C02F) at 9.4% are also comparatively light. These lower shares are worth a targeted freedom-to-operate search before assuming the space is genuinely open, since the gap could also reflect filings that fall outside this particular search string.
The United States leads with 81 filings in this dataset, followed by PCT applications filed through WIPO at 27, Australia at 24, Europe through the EPO at 23, Canada at 19 and the United Kingdom at 9. This spread indicates that while the US is the primary market for protection, applicants are also pursuing multi-jurisdiction coverage through the PCT route and filing directly in several other English-speaking and European markets.
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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.