Offshore Energies Magazine - Issue 55 Spring 2023

Decommissioning related patent applications by nationality of applicant

All Oil and Gas related applications by nationality of applicant All Oil and Gas related applications by nationality of applicant

Decommissioning related patent applications by nationality of applicant

Netherlands

Denmark

Norway

Netherlands

Denmark

Norway

United Kingdom

United States of America Canada

Netherlands

Denmark

Norway

United Kingdom

United States of America Canada

Other

Netherlands United Kingdom United States

Other

Denmark

Norway

Other

United Kingdom United States

Other

of room to innovate in before leaders in this emerging field are established. It is therefore crucial, now more than ever, that industry players re-evaluate their IP and innovation strategies if they want to take advantage of the opportunities before them. References: 1. OEUK Decommissioning Insight 2022; https:// oilandgasuk.cld.bz/Decommissioning-Insight-2022 2. Reuters, "Special Report: Millions of abandoned oil wells are leaking methane, a climate menace", Nichola Groom, 16/06/2020; https://www. reuters.com/article/us-usa-drilling-abandoned specialreport-idUSKBN23N1NL 3. Decommissioning Strategy, North Sea Transition Authority, 01/05/2021; https://www.nstauthority. co.uk /media / 7538/decommissioning-strategy may-2021.pdf 4. Reddie & Grose, "IP Protection in the Oil and Gas Industry", Insights, 18/02/2019; https://www.reddie. co.uk/2019/02/18/ip-protection-in-the-oil-and-gas industry/ Reddie & Grose LLP is a leading UK and European firm of patent, trade mark and design attorneys. It obtains and manages intellectual property rights in over 100 countries for its domestic and international clients. It specialises in developing protection strategies for all inventions, brands and designs. The firm provides strategic IP advice on client portfolios with a strong professional team from varied scientific backgrounds.

can benefit from each other’s IP (and so profit from projects they would otherwise not be able to complete) without worrying about loss of ownership of their own IP. As such, if UK companies can develop key decommissioning technologies now and secure strong IP protection for such innovation, they can ensure they will be front of the queue for future decommissioning tenders in overseas territories. Or, at the very least, they can ensure that they are able to license or sell their IP to overseas operators to generate future sources of revenue. Our research suggests that some companies have already realised this and have started to heavily increase their patent protection in the field of decommissioning. Indeed, as evidenced by Figure 1, the past 10 years have seen a significant increase in patent activity in decommissioning technology, primarily led by the UK, the US and Norway. The pie charts also show that a disproportionately high share of such decommissioning patents is being filed by UK companies ( Fig. 2 ) compared with oil and gas patents more generally ( Fig. 3 ). This is clear evidence of the important role theUK is starting to play in pioneering this technology. Although such recent patent activities of some UK companies appear promising, it must still be viewed in the wider context of the oil and gas patenting landscape as a whole. When done so, we can see that patent applications mentioning decommissioning still only accounted for a minute fraction (less than 1%) of all oil and gas related patent applications filed in the last ten years. There would therefore seem to be much more R&D resource, which could be allocated to decommissioning related innovations. There also clearly remains an abundance of technical challenges to be overcome and thus plenty

2 8 | O E U K M a g a z i n e | S p r i n g 2 0 2 3