ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,331,596, issued on June 17, was assigned to Halliburton Energy Services Inc. (Houston).

"Conductive encapsulation of a tubing encapsulated conductor for powering equipment in wellbore operations" was invented by Matthew S. Gray (Spring, Texas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system can be provided for supplying power to downhole equipment during a wellbore operation performed with respect to a wellbore. The system can include a tubing positioned downhole in the wellbore. The system can also include a tubing encapsulated conductor (TEC) positioned downhole in the wellbore. The TEC can be in contact with the tubing at one or more locations...