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Built by the team behind OpsFlo — field service & billing software for oilfield service companies. Capture tickets at the wellsite and bill in days, not weeks.
The three segments of the oil and gas industry — finding and producing it (upstream), moving and processing it (midstream), and refining and selling it (downstream).
The oil and gas industry is split into three segments that follow the molecule from the ground to your tank. Upstream finds and produces oil and gas; midstream transports, stores and processes it; and downstream refines it into fuels and products and sells them.
This guide defines each segment and walks through gathering, pipelines, gas processing and refining.
The full value chain compared.
Read →Exploration and production.
Read →Pipelines, storage and NGLs.
Read →Refining and marketing.
Read →Distillation and cracking.
Read →Turning raw gas into pipeline gas.
Read →
Built by the team behind OpsFlo — field service & billing software for oilfield service companies. Capture tickets at the wellsite and bill in days, not weeks.
Upstream — also called exploration and production (E&P) — covers everything before oil and gas leaves the ground: geological surveys, leasing, drilling, completion and wellsite production.
Upstream finds and extracts crude oil and natural gas. Downstream refines that crude into products like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and markets them to consumers. Midstream is the transport and processing link between them.
Midstream gathers production from many wells, processes raw gas into pipeline-quality gas and natural gas liquids, and transports crude and gas via pipelines, rail and tankers to refineries and markets, with storage along the way.