Midstream Transportation, Storage, and Processing

Abstract

The petroleum industry is often divided into three business sectors: Upstream, Midstream and Downstream. Upstream and downstream have been well defined and adopted in petroleum companies and communities. Mid-stream operations and processes generally include transportation, storage, and trading of crude oil and refined products. Midstream generally starts after wellhead treatments and ends at the point where a hydrocarbon stream enters refinery storage tanks (i.e., the tank farm). The liquefaction of natural gas to LNG, extraction/dilution of bitumen, and production of synthetic crude oil (syn crude) for transportation fit best into midstream rather than upstream because they require significant downstream expertise.