Midstream Oil & Gas

Midstream Oil & Gas encompasses the functions of the oil and gas industry that provide the link between oil and gas producing areas and locations where refining facilities and industrial and residential customers are located.

ADRM Software's Midstream Oil & Gas data model set consists of Enterprise, Business Area, and Data Warehouse logical data models that address the information requirements of midstream oil and gas companies engaged in any or all of the four primary midstream functions:

• Gathering

The first step in the midstream process is field gathering in which oil and natural gas production comes from a large number of wells.

Oil is moved through a network of small-diameter pipelines to a central location, where it is stored in quantities that can be efficiently sent to a refinery by truck, railcar, barge, or pipeline.

• Transportation

After field processing, the treated oil and natural gas is delivered via an extensive and complex transportation, pipeline transmission and distribution infrastructure. In the North America for example, there are hundreds of thousands of miles of natural gas, crude oil and liquids pipelines.

Natural gas, which flows at much higher pressure than crude oil, may be transported in large diameter regulated pipelines. LNG is natural gas that has been converted to a liquid when cooled to -162 C for easier transport or storage.

Pipelines are the safest and most efficient way to transport crude oil. Truck and rail are more flexible in terms of timing and being able to ship smaller quantities from or to alternative and multiple destinations.

• Storage

Storage for crude oil and refined products consists of field tank batteries, product bulk terminals, refinery tanks and holding tanks. Natural gas because of its large volumes and high pressure is generally stored underground until it is ready to be transported to market in depleted gas reservoirs, salt caverns and aquifers.

Since oil and gas products may be owned by and traded between various parties during the movement of the products from the field, through various stages of transportation, storage and refining, some midstream oil and gas organizations are also involved in trading activities and may also be interested to learn more about ADRM's Energy & Commodity Trading Solution Model.

Those midstream oil and gas organizations that are also involved in downstream retail activities and may also be interested to learn more about ADRM's Oil & Gas Downstream data model set.