OIL TECHNOLOGY GROUP, LLC recently secured a major technological breakthrough with the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 12735965. This patent, titled ‘Enhanced solvent recovery from tight rock and shale oil wells’, introduces an advanced method and system for displacing and recovering valuable solvents and mobilized oil trapped in shale and tight rock reservoirs following cyclic liquid solvent enhanced oil recovery (CLS-EOR) operations.
Methodology and Surface Separation Systems
The innovation focuses on injecting compressed gaseous displacing agents, such as methane, dry gas, field gas, ethane, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen, into previously treated wells at pressures ranging from 1,000 to 9,000 psi. This high-pressure injection repressurizes the stimulated reservoir volume (SRV), forming a miscible mixture with the banked solvent and remaining oil. During the production period, the miscible fluid flows to the surface, where a multi-stage separation and stabilization system separates the gaseous displacing agent, dissolved field gas, crude oil, and liquid solvent. The recovered solvent and displacing agent can then be recycled and injected into adjacent well groups or new project sites, eliminating traditional solvent losses caused by reservoir depressurization during standard blowdown processes.
Why U.S. Patent No. 12735965 Won Patent of the Month
U.S. Patent No. 12735965 earned recognition as the Patent of the Month for October 2026 in the oil, gas, and non-renewables industry because it solves one of the most critical economic bottlenecks in unconventional enhanced oil recovery: the permanent loss of expensive liquid solvents in depleted shale formations. Standard CLS-EOR processes leave approximately one barrel of solvent trapped in the SRV for every barrel of oil produced. By recovering 80% or more of these banked solvents, the technology reduces make-up solvent purchasing requirements from 1.26 barrels per barrel of EOR oil down to as low as 0.25 barrels in subsequent project phases. Furthermore, the system enhances operational sustainability by accommodating carbon dioxide as a displacing agent, enabling permanent underground geological storage that aligns with Carbon Capture and Underground Storage (CCUS) frameworks.
Technical Innovation and Operational Efficiency
The patented system introduces structural operational efficiencies through staggered well grouping and transportable equipment design. By dividing oilfields into distinct injection and production groups, operators can continuously run compressor components while utilizing existing fracture networks and inter-well connections to bypass formation damage in blocked hydraulic fracture stages. The physical surface components, including separators, oil stabilizers, and vapor recovery systems, are engineered for placement on transportable skids. This mobility allows operator equipment to be redeployed across multiple well sites once primary solvent recovery targets are met, maximizing asset utilization and long-term capital efficiency. Note that specific inventor names were not provided in the issued patent publication data.
U.S. R&D Tax Credit Eligibility for Practical Applications
Commercial implementation of this patented technology in the United States may qualify for the Federal Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 41. To qualify, energy companies must satisfy the four-part test by undertaking activities that resolve technical uncertainties associated with sub-surface fluid mechanics and surface processing. Eligible research activities include conducting computer reservoir modeling (using software such as Eclipse, GEM, or tNavigator) to establish site-specific pressure limits, evaluating thermodynamic miscibility thresholds across varying shale compositions, designing and testing custom skid-mounted separation stages, and optimizing gaseous displacement mixture ratios. Qualified expenses associated with internal engineering labor, trial testing, and experimental system design can directly offset federal tax liability.
