Fracking IP:
Innovations for the Environment
Hydraulic fracturing (also fracking, fraccing, hydrofracturing or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of ‘fracking fluid’ (primarily water, containing sand or other proppants suspended with the aid of thickening agents) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely. When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants (either sand or aluminium oxide) hold the fractures open.
Hydraulic fracturing began as an experiment in 1947, and the first commercially successful application followed in 1950. As of 2012, 2.5 million “frac jobs” had been performed worldwide on oil and gas wells; over one million of those within the U.S. Such treatment is generally necessary to achieve adequate flow rates in shale gas, tight gas, tight oil, and coal seam gas wells. Some hydraulic fractures can form naturally in certain veins or dikes.
The following YouTube.com video from Tortoise Capital Advisors explains some of the fundamentals of hydraulic fracturing technologies:
Increases in seismic activity following hydraulic fracturing along dormant or previously unknown faults are sometimes caused by the deep-injection disposal of hydraulic fracturing flowback (a byproduct of hydraulically fractured wells), and produced formation brine (a byproduct of both fractured and nonfractured oil and gas wells). For these reasons, hydraulic fracturing is under international scrutiny, restricted in some countries, and banned altogether in others. The European Union is drafting regulations that would permit the controlled application of hydraulic fracturing.
The first ‘modern’ fracking patent was applied for in 1948 by Stanolind in the USA. The established norm for patent protection has become protection of innovations in fracturing fluid composition, pressure and use. Patents may also cover the inclusion of proppants (solid materials used to keep fractures open), gelling agents and acids (to help open fractures), surfactants (to reduce surface friction) and biocides (to kill bacteria contained in the water).
Patents have been filed for methods for estimating the size of fractures, systems to provide power to isolated wells and methods for preparing fracking fluids without electricity. Also, the holders of fracking patents vary from energy supermajors to international service companies to smaller material and proppant suppliers. Therefore, although the technology has matured and innovations are now occurring on an incremental basis, the scope for patent protection is wide.
Trade secrets are also key protections. An effective program of trade secret protection necessitates comprehensive non-disclosure agreements with employees and third parties as well as careful control of access to physical records and equipment. There is, however, a balancing act if trade secrets rather than patents are to be the core protections for technical developments as there is an increasing clamor for the disclosure of technical details to regulators to combat public health concerns.
The following list provides links to recently issued hydraulic patents issued by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office:
- 9,546,538—Multi-stage fracturing with smart frack sleeves while leaving a full flow bore
- 9,546,315—Compositions, methods, apparatus, and systems for incorporating bio-derived materials in drilling and hydraulic fracturing
- 9,534,484—Fracturing sequential operation method using signal responsive ported subs and packers
- 9,534,473—Mobile electric power generation for hydraulic fracturing of subsurface geological formations
- 9,534,167—Fracturing method using polyboronic compound
- 9,518,430—Adjustable fracturing system
- 9,506,339—Active seismic monitoring of fracturing operations and determining characteristics of a subterranean body using pressure data and seismic data
- 9,500,068—Cavitation-based hydro-fracturing simulator
- 9,494,025—Control fracturing in unconventional reservoirs
- 9,488,456—Geologic fracturing method and resulting fractured geologic structure
- 9,488,042—Chemically-induced pulsed fracturing method
- 9,477,238—Monitoring hydraulic fracturing
- 9,477,002—Microhydraulic fracturing with downhole acoustic measurement
- 9,475,021—Mobile, modular, electrically powered system for use in fracturing underground formations using liquid petroleum gas
- 9,475,020—Mobile, modular, electrically powered system for use in fracturing underground formations using liquid petroleum gas
- 9,470,079—High energy gas fracturing device
- 9,464,499—Fracturing ball retrieval device and method
- 9,458,710—Hydraulic fracturing system
- 9,458,686—Fracturing tool anchor
- 9,448,473—Method for fracturing and forming a pattern using shaped beam charged particle beam lithography
- 9,447,673—Methods for providing proppant slugs in fracturing treatments
- 9,447,670—Self-orienting fracturing sleeve and system
- 9,447,315—Electrophilic acid gas-reactive fluid, proppant, and process for enhanced fracturing and recovery of energy producing materials
- 9,442,498—Water heating apparatus for continuous heated water flow and method for use in hydraulic fracturing
- 9,441,473—On-site generation of a fracturing fluid stream and systems and methods utilizing the same
- 9,441,447—Method of isolating a wellbore with solid acid for fracturing
- 9,416,643—Selective fracturing system
- 9,410,415—Method of fracturing subterranean formations with crosslinked fluid
- 9,410,414—Environmentally sealed system for fracturing subterranean formations
- 9,410,410—System for pumping hydraulic fracturing fluid using electric pumps
- 9,410,399—Multi-zone cemented fracturing system
- 9,394,779—Hydraulic fracturing isolation methods and well casing plugs for re-fracturing horizontal multizone wellbores
- 9,394,778—Apparatus, systems, and methods for fracturing a geological formation
- 9,394,776—Pulse fracturing device and method
- 9,394,775—Electrical fracturing of a reservoir
- 9,394,774—Methods and devices for hydraulic fracturing design and optimization: a modification to zipper frac
- 9,383,094—Fracturing apparatus
- 9,382,468—Hydraulic fracturing proppant containing inorganic fibers
- 9,376,903—Method and apparatus for resonant over-pressured well fracturing
- 9,376,902—Method to optimize perforations for hydraulic fracturing in anisotropic earth formations
- 9,371,831—Refueling method for supplying fuel to hydraulic fracturing equipment
- 9,371,830—Refueling system for supplying fuel to hydraulic fracturing equipment
- 9,366,125—Carbonate based slurry fracturing using solid acid for unconventional reservoirs
- 9,366,124—System and method for re-fracturing multizone horizontal wellbores
- 9,366,121—Modeling fracturing fluid leak-off
- 9,366,114—Mobile, modular, electrically powered system for use in fracturing underground formations
- 9,365,764—Slickwater fracturing fluid
- 9,358,517—Systems and methods of treating water used for hydraulic fracturing
- 9,354,335—Determining location information of microseismic events during hydraulic fracturing
- 9,353,599—Pressure response fracture port tool for use in hydraulic fracturing applications
Numerous trademarks relating to or in response to fracturing products and services have been registered, the pace of these filings is quickening.You can search for these and other trademarks by clicking this link for the USPTO TESS webpage.Here are some examples of recent filings, and their respective application serial numbers:
- 87306027–THE TUBING CORK
- 87305756–STIMSHIELD
- 87004782–FRACK FREE DENTON
- 86325443–@FRAC
- 86691148–FRACSTACKS
- 86934780–DON’T FRACK WITH MY WATER
- 86190909–FRACK OFF
- 86054420–FRACK-TEK
- 86415339–FRAC PAK
- 86538487–FRACK OFF OPEC
- 86293635–FRICK & FRACK LA
- 86265725–FRACK MASTER
- 85756102–FRACK OFF OPEC
- 85952415–FRACK FREE
- 85948415–FRACK FREE BREW FESTIVAL
- 85901268–FRACK WHATTHHEFRACK.ORG
- 85891537–FRACJACK
- 85875594–FRACK U!
- 85875588–FRACKMARKETS
- 85842906–FRACDB
- 85746736–FRAC UNIVERSE
- 85745585–FRACK FREE WATER
- 85712457–FRACK U!
- 85682254–DON’T FRACK MY MOTHER
- 85625289–FRACKMARKETS
- 85590563–FRACKVAC
- 85544243–FRACK WHATTHEFRACK.ORG
- 85536783–FRACK AND SAVE
- 85519006–FRACK CATSKILLCITIZENS.ORG
- 85241979–FRACK FLUID
- 79154955–INTELIBIFUEL
- 78522152–FRICK & FRACK
- 78290860–THE GREAT AMERICAN S’MORE BAR
- 77836320–FRICK & FRACK T’S
- 76276353–DINOS’MORES
- 76122774–FRAC-ATTACK
- 75193007–TOPS AND BOTTOMS
- 74648600–FRICK & FRACK
- 73187707–FRACK
- 81002304–BIG MOUTH
- 80994737–BIG MOUTH SHOPPER
For more reading on hydraulic fracturing and intellectual property, see the following articles, papers, and blogs:
- Intellectual Property White Paper – Pinsent Masons
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/PDF/pageturner/IPWhitePaper/Fracking/files/assets/common/downloads/What%20the%20Fracking%20Debate%20teaches%20us%20about%20IP%20Law%20and%20Activism.pdf
- Energy Companies Trying To Abuse Intellectual Property Law To …
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131016/02304924892/energy-companies-trying-to-abuse-intellectual-property-law-to-hinder-research-into-impact-fracking.shtml
- Fracking Patents – University of Michigan Law School Scholarship …
https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=mttlr
- Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid = Trade Secrets: Technology Law Blog, IT …
https://www.michiganitlaw.com/Hydraulic-Fracturing-Fluid-Equals-Trade-Secrets
- Patent wars: can the energy industry avoid them? | Insights | DLA …
https://www.dlapiper.com/en/us/insights/publications/2014/09/ipt-news-23/patent-wars/
- Will Patents Hamper Testing of the Environmental Impact of Fracking? https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/intellectual-property/b/patent-law-blog/archive/2013/08/20/will-patents-hamper-testing-of-the-environmental-impact-of-fracking.aspx?Redirected=true
- Fractured: How a Circuit Split in Natural Gas Intellectual Property Law …
https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=16+Tul.+J.+Tech.+%26+Intell.+Prop.+249&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=b9fd4dfafa748fe1f2a6d8d4b8c5d7ff