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26 - Oil & Gas Supply Chain...the Three Industry Components
Updated: Oct 15, 2018

Oil & Gas products are ingrained in our day to day life. For such products to be available to consumers in a timely manner, a complex system of supply chain has been built. This system divides the Oil & Gas industry into three main components:
Upstream
Midstream
Downstream
Upstream
This sector of the industry is also known as the Exploration & Production sector (E&P). It comprises of companies that work on identifying Oil & Gas reservoir, and producing from these reservoirs.
Activities in this sectors include:
G&G Surveying
Drilling (exploration, appraisal, and development wells)
Producing (from the wellhead to infield storage tanks)
Companies involved in this sector includes:
E&P companies (also known as operators, license holders, or simply Oil & Gas companies), such as ExxonMobil, Husky Energy, BP, Shell, Total, Rozneft and Petronas
Oilfield services companies, such as Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and Weatherford
Seismic Contractors, such as WesternGeco
Drilling Contractors, such as TransOcean and Precision Drilling
Engineering and professional services consulting firms, such us our company, Oea Consulting Inc.
Upstream is the most active sector in terms of Mergers & Acquisitions, which totaled $158 B in 2017 as per Deloitte
Midstream
This sector ensures that extracted hydrocarbons are transported from the field to the processing facility, such as:
Refineries for Crude Oil
Purification Plants for Natural Gas
Some associations do not recognize midstream, and consider it part of downstream
Activities in this sectors include:
Transportation via pipeline, railway, tankers, trucks
Storing Crude Oil and Natural Gas
managing pumping stations
Companies involved in this sector includes:
Pipeline Companies, such as Kinder Morgan, and Enbridge
Railway companies, such as Via Rail
Oil Tankers companies, such as Teekay, Frontline, and Tsakos
Downstream
This is the final sectors, and connects directly to the consumer.
Oil refineries and Purification plants are considered the entry point of this sector. Also, Petrochemical industry is considered part of the downstream oil gas since it uses refined hydrocarbons to produce consumer products.
Activities in this sectors include:
Refining Crude Oil
Purifying Natural Gas
Production of petrochemical products such plastic and cosmetics
Retail of refiner crude oil such as gas stations
Companies involved in this sector includes:
Integrated Oil & Gas companies such as ExxonMobil, Suncor, and HuskyEnergy
Gas Stations
Petrochemical factories
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