It is an undeniable fact that the worldwide reserves of
conventional oil and gas have been depleting rapidly. With
depleting petroleum reserves and current need for clean fuel, the
countries are steady shifting towards unconventional oil and gas
resources. For nearly two decades, countries have been striving to
build an overlap between conventional and unconventional oil and
gas resources to meet the market demand.
The patent filing trend of past decade below shows that the
number of patents filed globally and in India for conventional
resources has decreased over the years, while the number of patents
filed for unconventional resources appears to remain steady. It is
also evident from the chart that the research on the unconventional
resources, although growing is still at a nascent stage in
comparison to the conventional resources. Therefore, there is a
huge space available for the research, development, and further
commercialization of the unconventional sources.
