The current low oil price environment has shifted the focus producers to technologies that reduce costs while increasing operational efficiency. Digital oilfield technology has the potential to do both—but which oilfield companies are taking advantages of the opportunity?

Examining patent filings sheds light on the answer.

Schlumberger and Halliburton dominate the global oilfield services market, and if we look at total patent filings, we see that these two companies also dominate its uptake of digital oilfield technology. But which company is in the lead on digital oilfield adoption?

In order to find out, we analyzed the patents Schlumberger and Halliburton have filed in the digital oilfield domain in the last twenty years, segregating them according to technology area.

If we consider patents filed over the full last two decades, Schlumberger leads the game with 256 patents, including patents in almost every vertical of digital oilfield technologies. But if we isolate patent filings over just the last five years, loses its lead.

Overall in the last 20 years, Schlumberger leads in every vertical of digital oilfield technologies, but over the last five years we can see that it sits at the top in only data security, data transfer and alerting technologies.

Similar to Schlumberger, Halliburton holds a strong position of digital oilfield patents when the last 20 years are considered, but drops off a bit when we look at just the last five years. Over the last 20 years, Halliburton has filed 136 digital oilfield patents, putting it firmly into the number two position. But the picture changes when we look at the recent patent filings of the last five years, where Halliburton slips to the number three spot for most digital oilfield verticals. However, Halliburton clinches the top spot in drilling, while in reservoir monitoring it is at number four.

Additionally. Halliburton’s pending acquisition of Baker Hughes will result in a stronger lead for the company in a few more digital oilfield patent verticals.

So if Halliburton and Schlumberger are both losing ground on digital oilfield patents, what company is challenging them?

Assigning ranks again based on the last five years, we found CNPC at the top spot for seven out of nine technologies. Halliburton and Schlumberger are at the top in data security and drilling, respectively.

Conclusion

Before the crash in oil prices, oilfield services companies focused on only one thing: how to pump oil out of a well as fast as they could. Today the tables have turned to a laser focus on efficiency and costs. The companies that are able to pump maximum oil at minimum price will win new customers and outperform their peers. Relentless innovation is the key to survival.

Nitin Balodi is research analyst at GreyB Services, a boutique IP research and analytics firm based in Singapore that uses patent analytics to derive hidden business insight.