20 FEBRUARY 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® What is Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream in Gas and Oil? Adapted from Information by Eland Cables Upstream, midstream, and downstream are terms commonly used in the gas and oil industry, but what do they mean? Let’s take a closer look. Upstream: Upstream works include exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil. Exploration involves multiple activities, from acquiring land rights to conducting geological surveys, and drilling exploratory wells to look for reserves of gas and oil. Production refers to extracting the natural resource from the ground. This includes drilling wells (either onshore or offshore), or hydraulic fracturing. Upstream works, unsurprisingly, rely heavily on technology and electronics. Modern exploration depends on surveys conducted with sophisticated equipment, which will likely inform artificial intelligence and computer-based models of the area before exploration wells are drilled. Production, too, has become increasingly automated and computerized, as mechanical drilling and fracturing equipment has become more advanced, autonomous, and efficient. Midstream: Reference is occasionally made to midstream works or field processing - these processes come between upstream and downstream processes in the production of gas and oil products. Once upstream works have been completed, midstream works cover the initial processing, storage, and transportation of materials to sites for further refining. These processing works take the raw oil - which is a mixture of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids - and separate the components out, a process which also results in water being produced. The water is either recycled or disposed of, while the natural gas and oil are stored in preparation for transport to refineries. This is a complex process, involving multiple supply chains and transportation methods including pipelines, tankers, barges, and trucks. Downstream: These processes are the final step in the path gas and oil takes from being in the ground to being in the hands of consumers. The first step in downstream works is refining. Crude oil is refined using fractional distillation into a variety of products, including gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, and diesel oil. Fractional distillation works because these different products all have different boiling points. The crude oil is heated in the bottom of the distillation chamber until all the components turn into gases, which rise up the chamber. As they rise, they cool, and an apparatus is placed to capture the different products as they condense from a vapor into a liquid. Processing natural gas is a much more complex endeavor, involving multiple chemical reactions to create various end products including ethane, propane, and butane. Once both products have been refined and processed respectively, they are packaged in various ways and delivered to consumers. Examples include petroleum being transported to gas stations where consumers fill their vehicles, or butane being bottled for use in camping stoves. Upstream Midstream Downstream eranhenderson@gmail.com New & Used Tricones PDCs Drag & Claw Bits Drill Collars Bit Tipping Subs & Stabilizers HDD Bits & Reamers DTH Hammer & Bits Custom Fabrication Junk Mills / Fishing Tools Rod Henderson 661-201-6259 Eran Henderson 661-330-0790 G&O
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