The oil and gas industry is one of the several largest industry sectors in the world. We know that many products are made from oil and gas refineries. Transportation and the factory also use the oil and gas to make it run like usual. The oil and gas industry is very important to make the economy stay running.
Do you know that the oil and gas industry has several segments inside it?
That is the upstream, middle stream, and downstream.
Upstream
The upstream business is identical with the exploration of oil and gas. This sector is the key for the Geoscientist to finding the oil and gas industry reserves. The upstream sector also includes drilling and bringing oil and natural gas resources to the surface, referred to as “production.” That's why this sector is also known as ‘E & P’ (exploration and production).
The Upstream segment is characterized by high risk, high investment capital, extended duration as it takes time to locate and drill, as well as being technologically intensive.
What are we doing in the upstream segment ?
a. Exploration
The first step in the upstream sector is exploration.
The geologist will be looking for the location that has the potential to be the oil and gas place. After that, the geophysicist will take the lead to do the seismic acquisition method to collect the data from the field. In several surveys, geophysicists also used the gravity or magnetic method to find the oil and gas place at the beginning of the surveys. The seismic data will be processed in the next step. The seismic processing will be divided into two steps, the first step is the seismic processing and the second step is the seismic interpretation.
Seismic Processing
Seismic Processing is the “alteration of seismic data to suppress noise, enhance signal and migrate seismic events to the appropriate location in space. Processing steps typically include analysis of velocities and frequencies, static corrections, deconvolution, normal moveout, dip moveout, stacking, and migration, which can be performed before or after stacking. Seismic processing facilitates better interpretation because subsurface structures and reflection geometries are more apparent.” (Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary, 2020).
Seismic Interpretation
“Simply defined, seismic interpretation is the science (and art) of inferring the geology at some depth from the processed seismic record. While modern multichannel data have increased the quantity and quality of interpretable data, proper interpretation still requires that the interpreter draw upon his or her geological understanding to pick the most likely interpretation from the many “valid” interpretations that the data allow.” (AAPG WIKI, 2020)
b. Drilling
After the seismic processing and interpretation are done, the company will move into the next step, that’s is drilling process. Service Company will be doing the drilling process.
c. Production
After the drilling process is done the oil and gas will be produced and entered the midstream segment.
The Upstream companies
What’s the difference between contractor and operator companies in oil and industry?
Simply, the contractor is giving the service to the operator companies like handling the drilling process and all the tools that used to drill the well are from the contractor companies.
The contractor companies are :
Schlumberger Limited
Halliburton
Baker Huges
Pertofac
Bechtel
Saipem etc.
Besides that, the operators' companies are the companies that have the responsibility to make a design of the well to be drilled. Someone who works in the operators' company will go to the oilfield and will have a simpler work balance, not like the service companies who will work in shifts 24/7 every day.
The operator companies are :
Pertamina
Exxon Mobil
Chevron
Pertochina
BP
Shell
Saudi Aramco etc.
Midstream
The second segment in the oil and gas industry is the midstream segment. This sector is identical to the movement/transportation of the raw material of oil and gas into the refinery company. So in this sector, we will see the shipping, pipelines, and storing of the raw materials. This sector is also identical to the high regulation, particularly on the pipeline transmission, and low capital risk. Simply, this segment's activities are processing, storing, and transporting crude oil and natural gas.
The companies that play in this segment are :
Enterprise Midstream
Kinder Morgan
Enbridge
TransCanada
Williams Companies
Plains All-American
Energy Transfer Partners
Magellan Midstream
MarkWest Energy Partners
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners
Downstream
The downstream segment is the refining stage of the oil and gas industry. The downstream companies responsible for removing impurities and converting the oil and gas to products for the general public, such as gasoline, jet fuel, heating oil, and asphalt.
The key downstream business sectors include :
Oil Refining
Supply and Trading
Product Marketing and Retail
Oil refining Product :
Light Products :
Liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
Gasoline (or petrol)
Naphtha used as a solvent or paint thinner.
Medium Products - Middle Distillates
Kerosene and related jet aircraft fuels
Diesel fuel
Heavy Products
Fuel oils
Lubricating oils
Paraffin wax
Asphalt and tar
Petroleum coke
This is the companies that doing the downstream segment/refinery :
International Refiners :
Irving oil (Canada)
Petroplus Holdings (Europe)
ERG Petroli (Italy)
ENI
Integrated Refiners :
BP
ExxonMobil
Chevron
Shell
Total
Independent Refiners :
Valero
Tesoro
Sunoco
“The downstream segment of the oil and gas industry includes the refining of crude oil into consumable products and the marketing of these products to commercial or retail end users.”(ektinteractive.com).
References
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