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SLB, formerly Schlumberger Limited, is a US and internationally based energy technology company and the world’s largest oilfield services provider, with a patent portfolio spanning drilling systems and directional drilling, measurement and logging while drilling, wireline and formation evaluation, reservoir characterisation and seismic imaging, downhole tools and completions, artificial lift and production chemicals, subsea production systems, hydraulic fracturing and stimulation, drilling fluids and cementing, and digital, artificial intelligence, and data platform technologies. Its filings cover downhole sensing and telemetry, logging tool physics, seismic acquisition and interpretation, reservoir modelling and simulation, completion and stimulation methods, and cloud and AI platforms for subsurface workflows. The company operates through its Digital, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems divisions, and the portfolio reflects the accumulated engineering research of Schlumberger and its acquired businesses across multiple decades and jurisdictions.
SLB’s patent portfolio comprises 54,522 patents distributed across 17,667 simple families and 16,064 extended families. The portfolio spans 72 jurisdictions and includes patents associated with drilling, reservoir evaluation, downhole tools, production systems, subsea equipment, and digital oilfield technologies.
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SLB’s portfolio consists of 17,454 active assets and 37,065 inactive assets. Active holdings include 10,469 granted patents and 6,985 patent applications. The large inactive base, led by abandoned applications and patents expired due to term and maintenance fees, is characteristic of a research portfolio accumulated over more than nine decades of oilfield technology development.
SLB’s patents span 72 jurisdictions, with the United States accounting for the largest share of filings and grants.
Total Patents: 54,522
The portfolio is distributed across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The strong presence in Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Mexico, and Brazil is distinctive and reflects the geography of major conventional and offshore oil and gas basins, including the North Sea, Canadian heavy oil, Mexican and Brazilian offshore, where SLB’s drilling and evaluation technologies are deployed.
SLB’s patent portfolio is the most technologically diversified of the oilfield services companies in this series, led by the industrial domain covering drilling equipment, downhole tools, and completions, but with an unusually high software share of roughly 21% and computer systems and components share of 16%. Together these digital-leaning domains reflect SLB’s substantial investment in its Digital division, seismic and reservoir interpretation software, and AI-driven subsurface platforms, a mix that distinguishes it from its more hardware-focused peers.
The citation network is dominated by the small group of firms that lead oilfield services technology. Beyond SLB’s own entities, including its Schlumberger NV and Prad Research predecessors, the largest citation volumes involve direct competitors Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford, and NOV, alongside major operators ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips and national programmes in Saudi Arabia and China. The dense mutual citation among SLB, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes underlines the intensely competitive and heavily cross-cited nature of the sector.
SLB’s litigation dataset includes 73 patents that have been involved in litigation matters, 53 petitions, 13 reexaminations, and 43 Chinese Patent Reexamination Board proceedings. The dataset also includes 2 active cases, 58 inactive cases, 16 appeals, and 392 related parties, the highest related-party count in this report series, consistent with the intensely litigious and heavily cross-licensed nature of the oilfield services sector and SLB’s position at its centre.
Ownership Type
Sources of Acquired Patents
SLB’s patent portfolio consists of 50,718 originally assigned patents and 3,804 acquired patents, meaning approximately 93% of the portfolio was developed internally. Acquired patents originate predominantly from operating companies, reflecting SLB’s history of technology-focused acquisitions to complement its large in-house research base.
2025 – ChampionX (~US$7.8 billion)
SLB completed its acquisition of ChampionX Corporation on 16 July 2025 in an all-stock transaction, with ChampionX shareholders receiving 0.735 SLB shares per ChampionX share, valuing the deal at approximately US$7.8 billion. The acquisition significantly strengthened SLB’s production and recovery portfolio, adding production chemistry, artificial lift, and digital solutions, and contributed US$870 million of revenue in the second quarter of 2026 alone. It is the company’s largest acquisition in its recent history.
2023 – OneSubsea and the Aker subsea business
In the fourth quarter of 2023 SLB formed OneSubsea, a subsea technology joint venture with Aker Solutions and Subsea7, integrating Aker Solutions’ subsea business. The combination created a comprehensive subsea portfolio spanning trees, manifolds, umbilicals, and processing, and roughly half of SLB’s year-on-year revenue growth in early 2026 was attributable to the added Aker subsea business.
2022 – Rebrand from Schlumberger to SLB
The company rebranded from Schlumberger to SLB in 2022, reflecting a strategic repositioning around digital technology and energy transition alongside its core oilfield services business. The legal parent was subsequently reorganised, and the portfolio is held today across SLB and its Schlumberger-named legacy entities.
SLB is a publicly traded energy technology company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (SLB) and a component of the S&P 500. It operates through four divisions, Digital, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems, and is the largest oilfield services company in the world by revenue, increasingly positioned around digital, AI, and data centre infrastructure alongside its core services.
SLB
5599 San Felipe Street
Houston, TX 77056, United States
SLB’s principal offices are located in Houston, Texas, with additional principal executive offices historically maintained in Paris, London, and The Hague reflecting its global operating base.
SLB’s patent portfolio includes 54,522 patents across 72 jurisdictions. The portfolio contains patent assets in drilling and directional drilling, measurement and logging while drilling, wireline and formation evaluation, reservoir characterisation and seismic imaging, completions and stimulation, subsea and production systems, and digital and AI subsurface platforms.
The portfolio includes 17,667 simple families, 16,064 extended families, 46 litigated patents, and 18 challenged patents, with 17,454 active assets of which 6,985 are pending applications.
SLB’s patent portfolio contains 54,522 patents across 72 jurisdictions. The portfolio includes 17,667 simple families and 16,064 extended families.
The industrial domain leads at roughly 27%, covering drilling equipment and downhole tools, but SLB is unusually digital-leaning for an oilfield services company, with software at about 21% and computer systems and components at 16%, reflecting its Digital division and AI subsurface platforms.
SLB’s portfolio includes 17,454 active patent assets, consisting of 10,469 active grants and 6,985 active applications.
The United States contains the largest number of SLB patent assets, followed by World Intellectual Property Organization filings, Canada, the European Patent Office, the United Kingdom, and Norway, the latter reflecting North Sea offshore activity.
The litigation dataset includes 73 patents in litigation, 53 petitions, 13 reexaminations, and 43 Chinese PRB proceedings, alongside 392 related parties, the highest in this report series.
The portfolio contains 50,718 originally assigned patents and 3,804 acquired patents, meaning approximately 93% was developed internally.
The citation data is dominated by the oilfield services sector, including Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford, and NOV, alongside major operators ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.
SLB completed its approximately US$7.8 billion acquisition of ChampionX in July 2025, strengthening its production and recovery portfolio, and formed the OneSubsea joint venture integrating Aker Solutions’ subsea business in late 2023.
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