1. SHALE GAS AND FRACKING:
A CASE STUDY
Understanding a polemical technology using
scientific, technological and financial data
M. Becue, V. Bouaroudj, J.M. Careil, A. Meunié, D. Virapin
IISDV, Nice, April 15th 2014
d.v. 25/03/2014
2. Outline
➔Context : the case of shale gas
➔First insights: global situation
➔Questioning: environmental issues
➔Conclusion and perspectives
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 20142
3. Shale gas: a brief introduction (1/2)
➔Unconventional source of natural gas found trapped within
shale formations
➔Low permeability of shale formations: absence of significant
wellbores, low concentration of gas
➔Hydraulic fracturing or fracking: reproduction of existing
natural fractures, permitting to access commercial
quantities of shale gas
› Horizontal drilling
› Use of water, sand and chemicals
3 15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
4. Shale gas: a brief introduction (2/2)
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source: US Energy Information Administration
4
5. Shale oil and gas reserves (1/3)
➔Technically recoverable resources: 752 billion cubic meters
of gas, of which 28% from shale gas (ever-changing
estimations)
➔More homogeneous spread of resources: geo-political issues
at stake
➔North America concentrates most of the commercial
production of shale gas (US: 1/3 of national gas production)
5 15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
6. Shale oil and gas reserves (2/3)
6 15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source: US Energy Information Administration
7. Shale oil and gas reserves (3/3)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Eurasia Middle-East Pacific Asia Alena Africa Latin America OECD Europe
National share in the world gas resources National share in the world shale gas resources
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source: US Energy Information Administration
Global distribution of world gas and shale gas resources
7
8. Methodological steps
8
Step 1
Input: IPC codes – Database: Orbit (Questel) –
Output: 9300+ Patents
Step 2
Input: Key-words – Database: Web of Sciences –
Output: 800+ Publications
Step 3
Input: Key-words – Database: Zephyr –
Output: 2500+ Financial deals
Step 4
Portfolio treatment, using Intellixir
Step 5 (1st level of analysis)
Portfolio segmentation :
identification of techniques
of fracturing
Step 6 (2nd level of analysis)
Portfolio segmentation :
evidence of safety-driven
technologies
DATA
COLLECTION
DATA
ANALYSIS
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
9. Perimeter under study: Set of
techniques developed for the purpose
of shale gas extraction
Patents : E21B-043/26 OR C09K-008/6+
E21B-043/26 : Methods or apparatus for
obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable
materials or a slurry of minerals from wells by
forming crevices or fractures
C09K-008/6+ : Compositions for stimulating
production by acting on the underground
formation
-> 9304 families
Publications : shale gas AND frac*
-> 849 articles
Financial deals : “shale gas”
-> 2518 deals
Data Collection
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 20149
Dynamics of patent applications
Number of patent families
180
156
187
218
284
315
372
392
372 378 364
468
373
0
100
200
300
400
500
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Total Hydraulic fracturing Alternative fracturing
6 11 15 15
5 7 9 8 10
22 26
49
85
127
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Dynamics of scientific publications
Number of articles
Source : Orbit, WoS, Zephyr (data), Intellixir (treatment)
10. Global statistics
10
Patents – priority country
US : 740
RU: 666
CN : 1207
FR : 223
UK : 245
Publications – main author country
22% of patents have an
international extension
15% of patents have a
European extension
World : 2030
Europe : 1408
Financial deals – acquirer country
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source : Orbit,WoS,Zephyr (data), Intellixir (treatment)
11. A mature technology ?
11
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Numberofpatentfamiliesapplications
Number of applicants
1936
1971
1998
2007
1989
1990
2011
2009
2012
1993
1940
Case of fracturing
Source : Introduction to Patent Map Analysis, Japan Patent Office
Asia-Pacific Industrial Property Center, JIII
Reference map of maturity
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source : Orbit(data), Intellixir (treatment)
12. Forces in presence (1/2)
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 201412
Source : Orbit (data), Intellixir (treatment)
publicationpatent
13. Forces in presence (2/2)
13
MARATHON OILSINOPEC CN
UNION OILBP GB
SHELL NLCHINA NAT
PETROLEUM CN
CONOCOPHILLIPS
US
CHEVRON TEXACO
US
EXXON MOBIL US
BAKER HUGUES US
SCHLUMBERGER US
HALLIBURTON US AE
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32
Number of patent families
Mean age of portfolio
Major active
applicants
Small active
applicants
Major inactive
applicants
Small inactive
applicants
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source : Orbit (data), Intellixir (treatment)
14. New entrants
14
CHENGDU HONGTIAN
TELEX ENGINEERING
CHINA UNIV OF
MINING TECHNOLOGY
ALBERTA UNIV
UNIVs CHENGDU CN
ACAD SCI RU
UNIV OF TEXAS
DALIAN BITEOMICS
ANTON OILFIELD
SERVICES
SOANE ENERGY
DONGYING SHENGSHI
PETROLEUM
GENERAL ELECTRIC
US
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Numberofpatentfamilies
Years
New entrants since 2005: 40%
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source : Orbit (data), Intellixir (treatment)
15. ➔ Local environmental issues: non-acceptation
› Harmful fluids used: fear of water contamination
› Water intensive process: usage issues
› Emission of volatile gas: air pollution
› High density of wells and large-scale production required:
landscape deterioration
› Geologic formations disturbed: seismic risks
➔ Global environmental issues
› Impact on the global energetic mix
› Impact on climate change
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
A highly polemical context: environmental issues
Are these environmental issues addressed in inventive
activities, and if yes, in which way ?
15
16. Identification of alternative techniques
16
Number of
patent families
Number of
publications
Electrical fraturing 203 3
Propane-based fracturing 633 34
Carbon dioxide fracturing 155 66
Thermal fracturing 101 12
Hydraulic fracturing 7033 362
Non classified 1179 372
Total documents 9304 849
Share of alternative 12 % 13 %
Share of hydraulic 76% 43 %
A major share of patents
relate to hydraulic fracturing
specifically: main focus of
inventive efforts
Lower share of publications related to hydraulic
fracturing specifically.
Publications are more generally related to
transversal issues associated with fracturing.
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Share of documents
relative to identified
alternative techniques
of fracturing
17. 17
Source : Orbit (data), Intellixir (treatment), Gephi (mapping), Sigma.js (visualization)
Competitive positioning through the lens of patents (1/2)
Thermal: 101
CO2: 155
Electrical: 203
Hydraulic: 7033
Focus on alternative
techniques only
Major focus: pure
hydraulic fracturing
(83% of applicants)
Propane-based: 633
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Nodes: number of patents owned
Links: number of patent applications filed
18. Competitive positioning through the lens of patents (2/2)
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 201418
Source : Orbit (data), Intellixir (treatment)
19. Financial strategies
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 201419
Acquerors
Targets
Source : Zephyr (data), Intellixir (treatment)
Affiliations
Deal Types
20. Positioning through the lens of publications
20
Title Affiliation Date
ExxonMobil’s Electrofrac™ Process
for In Situ Oil Shale Conversion
ExxonMobil 2009
Title Affiliation Date
Study on carbon dioxide thermodynamic behaviour
for the purpose of shale rock fracturing
Warsaw
University
2013
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source : WoS (data), Intellixir (treatment)
21. Evidence of environmental concerns ?
21
Nb of
Docs
Electrical fracturing 28
Propane-based fracturing 121
Carbon dioxide fracturing 30
Thermal fracturing 16
Hydraulic fracturing 1131
Non classified 101
Total documents 1427
Share of sub-query 14 %
Relative share of alternative 14 %
Relative share of hydraulic 79 %
Sub-query used
Patents : E21B-043/26 OR C09K-008/6+
Publications : shale gas AND frac*
AND
Damage OR environmental*
Most documents addressing
environmental concerns are
relative to hydraulic fracturing
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source : Orbit,WoS (data), Intellixir (treatment)
22. Citations
22 15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Source : Orbit (data), Intellixir (treatment), Gephi (mapping), Sigma.js (visualization)
Nodes: number of forward citations
Links: number of times cited
23. ➔ Technology, scientific and financial data: a relevant source of
strategic information
➔ Fracturing is still an immature technology
➔ Implication of Chinese actors sharply increasing
➔ Environmental concerns are weakly being addressed and
concern mainly hydraulic fracturing rather than alternative
techniques not based on hydraulic tools
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Conclusion and perspectives (1/2)
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24. ➔ Economic issues
› Diversification of sources of energy and greater independence
› Increased attractivity for gas intensive industries
› Local job creation
› Increased competitivity
› Real rentability under question
➔ Further work
› Detailed analysis on specific time periods
› Refined query relative to environment
› In-depth citation analyses
➔ Any questions or suggestions are more than welcome !
15th of April 2014 Shale gas and fracking: a case study – IISDV Conference 2014
Conclusion and perspectives (2/2)
24
