The Midstream sector of the oil and gas value chain is made up of the refining and transportation of crude oil and natural gas processing. The refining of crude oil converts the product into marketable commodities that are sold to the Downstream sector or end users.

There are an estimated 675 worldwide refineries located in 115 countries that collectively have a daily capacity of over 100 million barrels per day. For both economic and flexibility reasons, the bulk of the world’s Midstream sector refining takes place near Downstream product markets, with major refinery capacity located in the United States, Western Europe, and key countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Transporting & Refining Processing

Refineries must produce products which meet a variety of quality specifications and must respond to changes in both product demand and quality. As an example, during winter months there is an increase in demand for home heating oil, and in summer months there is an increase in gasoline demand for automobile increased usage.

The comparative quantities of petroleum products produced by a refinery depend on the complexity of the refinery processes, the market demand, and the properties of the crude being refined. The complexity is related to the many operating units that are used to separate the crude into fractions, improve their quality, and increase the production of higher-valued products like gasoline, jet fuel, diesel oil, and home heating oil.

Deep conversion refineries are capable of transforming a wide variety of crudes, including the low quality heavy sour crudes into the higher value products such as gasoline & diesel fuel. The ability to meet demanding product quality, notably very low sulfur gasoline and diesel fuel is also a characteristic of deep conversion refineries.

• Information Source:
• Petroleumonline - Wikipedia