Recently, the Intellectual Property Research and Management Center of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) conducted an analysis of the world's first published patents of five international oil companies and three technical service companies in 2023. The results show that the number of patents published for the first time in the world by eight companies decreased slightly compared to the same period last year. The public patents of international oil companies are mainly concentrated in the field of refining and chemical technology, and the public patents of technical service companies are mainly concentrated in the field of engineering technology. Solar photovoltaic and carbon dioxide capture technologies have become hot spots for patent applications.
01
The number of published patents has been steadily declining
The proportion of cooperation applications is relatively high
In terms of the number of published patents, in 2023, the number of first-time patents published by 8 companies in the world will be 6,002, slightly lower than the level of the same period last year. Among them, 5 international oil companies disclosed a total of 2,483 cases, and 3 technical service companies disclosed a total of 3,519 cases. A total of 1,263 PCT international patents were published by 8 companies, accounting for 21% of the total number of publications, slightly higher than the 18.2% in 2022. Among them, 5 international oil companies disclosed a total of 460 cases, and 3 technical service companies disclosed a total of 803 cases.
From the perspective of patent applicants, there has been an increase in the trend of joint patent applications through the use of technical cooperation research and development. The main reason is that the globalization of resource allocation and the internationalization of enterprise competition are accelerating, the cost of patent application and maintenance for independent research and development is too high, and more and more oil companies are paying more attention to technical cooperation and research and development and the sharing of results and benefits. Schlumberger and Total have the highest patent cooperation rates of 42% and 22.8%, respectively, Shell and Chevron have patent cooperation rates of more than 12%, and Halliburton, Baker Hughes and British Petroleum (BP) have relatively low patent cooperation rates.
02
Number of patents published
The United States is still the most
From the perspective of patent distribution countries, the patents published by the eight companies are mainly concentrated in North America and Europe, which have advantages in resources and intellectual property legal environment, and the Asia-Pacific region, which has market potential. In North America, the United States has the largest number of published patents, with 1,721, accounting for 28.7% of the world's total number of patents, while in the Asia-Pacific region, China has the largest number of published patents, with 275, accounting for 4.6%, slightly higher than 4% in 2022.
The top five international oil companies have 569 patents published in the United States, accounting for 22.9% of their total global disclosures, followed by China with 241 patents (9.7%), South Korea with 142 patents (5.7%) and Japan with 115 patents (4.6%).
The number of patents published in the United States by the three major technology service companies is 1,152, accounting for 32.7% of their total global disclosures, followed by the United Kingdom with 605 patents (17.2%), Norway with 322 patents (9.2%), and Australia with 206 patents (5.9%). In addition, the technical service company also attaches great importance to the layout in Saudi Arabia, Brazil and other key areas of the engineering and technical service business. However, the number of patents published by the three technology service companies in China in 2023 is only 34, accounting for less than 1%. Despite the low number of patent applications filed by technology service companies in China, this does not mean that their interest in the Chinese market has waned. Instead, they may protect and exploit their technology in other ways, such as paying more attention to the protection of technical secrets or trade secrets.
03
Engineering technology and refining and chemical fields
remains a key area for patent filing
From the perspective of the distribution of public patent technology, the eight companies have the largest number of public patents in the fields of engineering technology and oil refining and chemical industry, accounting for 46.5% and 35.8% respectively, while the exploration and development field accounts for only 8.3%. Among them, 73.9% of the patents published by 5 international oil companies are in the field of downstream refining and chemical industry, and 75.5% of the patents published by 3 technical service companies are in the field of engineering technology. PetroChina has the largest number of public patents in the fields of exploration and development and engineering technology, accounting for 40.4% and 31.8% respectively.
Eight companies accounted for 3.7% of the total number of published patents in the field of new and renewable energy, slightly higher than PetroChina's 3.5%. Eight companies have made certain technical reserves in the fields of biomass, fuel cells, energy storage and hydrogen energy. Total had the largest number of 89 pieces, mainly in the solar sector, especially photovoltaics, followed by ExxonMobil with 30 pieces, mainly in the CO2 capture technology and fuel cell sectors.
04
Emerging technologies and cross-border technologies
Become a hot spot for patent applications
Through the cluster analysis of patent big data, the recent R&D hotspots and patent applications of the eight companies mainly focus on their main business. In addition, the eight companies also have a strong focus on patent applications for emerging and cross-border technologies. Among them, digitalization has become a new direction in the patent layout, such as new measurement, calculation, communication, control, simulation, machine learning, etc.
From the perspective of the five major oil companies, ExxonMobil's three key technology directions are dehydroaromatization, catalyst systems and polymer processing aids, accounting for 79.1% of the total. Chevron's three key technology directions are resource recycling economy, machine learning and hybrid engines, accounting for 87.7% of the total. Total's three key technology directions are alkali metal oxides, computer realizations and molybdenum disulfide, accounting for 72.7% of the total. Shell's three key technology directions are catalyst systems, syngas production and anti-aging additives, accounting for 80.1% of the total. BP's three key technology directions are Fischer-Tropsch catalysts, fluid circulation systems and computer implementation, accounting for 77.1% of the total.
Among the three major technical service companies, Halliburton's three key technology directions are downhole tools, well control systems and intelligent drilling, accounting for 75.7% of the total. Schlumberger's three key technology tracks are machine learning, downhole tooling, and fracturing technology, which together account for 77.2%. Baker Hughes' three key technology directions are downhole sensors, wellbore systems and downhole expansion tools, accounting for 75.3% of the total.
Contact: 010-64523406 Submission email: [email protected]
Editor: Jiang Yiyan
Proofreading: Zhang Rui
Review: Chang Fei Lu Xiangqian