Partners Alan Herda and Russ Emerson and Counsel Zachary Halbur authored an article in The Patent Lawyer discussing a recent patent infringement suit filed by Downing Wellhead Equipment.
Read an excerpt below:
The successful combination of hydraulic fracturing (or “frac”) technology with horizontal drilling dramatically increases production in tight-rock petroleum reservoirs and has resulted in a decades-long “shale revolution” in the United States.
Frac technology has evolved over the years, and this evolution has led to an unprecedented run up in the domestic production of oil and natural gas. Indeed, in 2022, tight-oil resources in the US produced about 2.84 billion barrels (or about 7.79 million barrels per day) of crude oil, amounting to about 66% of total US crude oil production, according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration (“EIA”). The shale revolution continues today, as US shale operators seek out more and more innovations for efficiency and productivity gains, many of which relate to surface operations.
To read the full article in The Patent Lawyer, click here.
