Downstream | Practical Law

Downstream | Practical Law

Downstream

Downstream

Practical Law Glossary Item 6-522-4228 (Approx. 2 pages)

Glossary

Downstream

This segment of the oil & gas industry focuses on the operations and activities that take place after exploration and production (E&P) (also known as upstream) and gathering, transportation, processing, and storage of oil and gas (also known as midstream). Downstream activities include:
  • Refining and processing crude oil and natural gas products into liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline, jet fuel, diesel oil, other fuel oils, asphalt and petroleum coke.
  • Storing oil & gas products.
  • Marketing and trading oil & gas products.
  • Transporting, selling, and distributing oil & gas products to wholesale and retail customers.
Downstream is sometimes defined to refer only to the sale and distribution of oil & gas and their by-products, with the refining, storing and transportation activities defined as midstream.
For more information on the downstream segment, see Practice Note, US Oil & Gas Industry: Overview: Oil & Gas Industry Segment: Downstream.