US Patent Issued to SAUDI ARABIAN OIL on Aug. 19 for "Development of ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) branched block copolymer shale inhibitor for water based drilling fluid" (Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,391,864, issued on Aug. 19, was assigned to SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia).

"Development of ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) branched block copolymer shale inhibitor for water based drilling fluid" was invented by Sivaprakash Shanmugam (Houston), Ashok Santra (The Woodlands, Texas) and Carl Thaemlitz (Cypress, Texas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A drilling fluid composition comprising a base fluid, and a shale inhibitor including an ultra-high molecular weight branched block copolymer having the following structure,where monomer A is an anionic monomer, monomer B is a hydrophilic monomer, monomer C is an anionic mon...