Reuters: Unconventional energy boom drives oil and gas patents to record

A boom in the search for unconventional forms of energy such as shale gas or oil sands has led to a record high in new oil and gas patents filed across the world, research published by Thomson Reuters' legal business showed.

Inventors filed a total of 12,062 oil and gas patent applications in 2013, up a third from 2012 and three times as high as approvals sought ten years ago.

Mature oil basins are running low on easily recoverable hydrocarbons and countries are increasingly looking at tapping fresh domestic resources to cut import dependence.

The search for unconventional sources of energy has been accompanied by innovations in technology to help improve hydraulic fracturing or to enter deeper and more treacherous offshore locations.
MORE