There are three key segments that make up the oil and gas industry: upstream, midstream and downstream. Each is critical to the manufacture and distribution of gasoline, diesel, refined petroleum products and petrochemicals that are essential to the broader economy and modern life.
What is midstream?
The midstream segment moves and stores feedstocks and finished products — including fuels, natural gas, natural gas liquids and petrochemical products — using an integrated system of pipelines, ports and waterways, railroads, roadways and storage facilities.
Midstream infrastructure is the essential link connecting upstream production fields — where oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) are produced — to refineries, natural gas processing plants and petrochemical manufacturing facilities. Upon arriving at these facilities, raw materials are turned into fuels, feedstocks and other essential goods.
Midstream infrastructure also links refineries and petrochemical plants to consumers. It moves fuels from refineries to regional storage terminals and retail outlets. And it carries petrochemical feedstocks from the plants that produce them to the manufacturing facilities that turn them into a myriad of everyday consumer products that make modern life possible.
Did you know?
- 3.3 million miles of pipelines move raw materials from production areas to refineries and petrochemical plants — and finished products to consumers.
- In addition to pipelines, we move products by rail, truck and water-borne vessels like ships.
- 140,000 miles of railway track and more than 200,000 rail tank cars move crude oil and NGLs across the United States.
- Fuels and refined products are shipped via truck over 164,000 miles of highway every day to retail outlets, businesses and homes.
- 36,000 miles of inland waterways and more than 300 ports facilitate domestic fuel and feedstock movements and provide American energy producers and consumers access to the global market.
Learn more about upstream and downstream.
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) is the leading trade association representing the makers of the fuels that keep us moving, the petrochemicals that are the essential building blocks for modern life, and the midstream companies that get our feedstocks and products where they need to go. We make the products that make life better, safer and more sustainable — we make progress.
