Midstream

For other uses, see Midstream (disambiguation).

The petroleum industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream and downstream. The midstream sector involves the transportation (by pipeline, rail, barge, oil tanker or truck), storage, and wholesale marketing of crude or refined petroleum products. Pipelines and other transport systems can be used to move crude oil from production sites to refineries and deliver the various refined products to downstream distributors.[1][2][3] Natural gas pipeline networks aggregate gas from natural gas purification plants and deliver it to downstream customers, such as local utilities.

The midstream operations are often taken to include some elements of the upstream and downstream sectors. For example, the midstream sector may include natural gas processing plants that purify the raw natural gas as well as removing and producing elemental sulfur and natural gas liquids (NGL) as finished end-products.

Service providers involved in the midstream sector

See also

References

  1. Petroleum industry
  2. Upstream, midstream & downstream
  3. Industry Overview from the website of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC)