Pollution Control

Lecture : Safety And Environmental

Considering For Upstream, Midstream and
Downstream Sectors
Submitted by
Mr. Kawar Abid
The oil and gas industry is usually divided into three
major sectors: upstream, midstream, and
downstream.

This category is commonly referred to as the exploration and production sector. This involves companies
actively searching for underground and underwater sources of crude oil and natural gas.
UPSTREAM PETROLEUM SECTOR:
This category is commonly referred
to as the exploration and production
sector. This involves companies
actively searching for underground
and underwater sources of crude oil
and natural gas.
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF UPSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:

1. Exploration activities include:

1. Geophysical survey (including shot hole

drilling) and geophysical operations.
2. Logging operations including storage &
handling of explosives, radioactive material.
3. Use of explosives for perforation.
4. Reservoir studies.
5. Laboratories for chemical and physic-chemical
analysis.
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF UPSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:

2. Drilling Activities (Land drilling operations)

comprise of:
1.Drill site and allied constructions
2.Rig Movement and Rig Building
3.Drill site Restoration
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF UPSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:
3. Production Activities cover the following areas
of operations.
The situated hydrocarbon production operations
are carried out in varied topographical conditions like
forestland, deserts and grassland etc. Activities in the
course of these operations comprise mainly of

1.Well commissioning and testing.

2.Handling (treatment) facilities (flow
pipelines): construction and operation.
3.Well servicing & stimulation.
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF UPSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:

4. Maintenance Operations.
5.Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) systems
including water injection, polymer flooding, in-situ
combustion etc.
6.Storage and dispatch of crude oil to refineries
and other end users.
 MIDSTREAM of PETROLEUM SECTOR:

the midstream sector is the second of the three

petroleum market stages. The category refers to the
transportation of crude or refined petroleum
products, usually via pipeline, oil tanker, barge, truck
or rail.
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF MIDSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:
1. PIPLINE
or Piping, represents the most common way that the
oil begins the process of being transported and
distributed. Vast networks of pipelines need to be
constructed and maintained.
Some of the most common hurdles include:
1)Compressor Stations/Pump Stations – Getting the
oil and gas to travel the long distances to the
downstream refinery locations requires extreme
amounts of compression. It may needs
compression/pump stations at intervals to keep the
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF MIDSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:
2)Geopolitical – Since the oil does travel so far it
may travels through multiple countries. Thus
building and maintaining the pipeline will require
getting the permissions and considering HSE and
environmental legal law of these countries.
to the pipeline’s construction and maintenance.
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF MIDSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:
3)Terrain – The pipeline will need to travel across a
wide vary of different terrains. For example it may
begins on flatlands, ravel across mountainous
regions, through deserts, swamps, or frozen land.
This will require well considerations with regard to
the pipeline’s construction and maintenance due its
environment with considering EIA Environmental
Impact Assessment of these terrains.
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF MIDSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:
2-Secondary Logistics
After the initial pipeline transfer of the oil, additional
transportation and storage may be necessary before
the oil is ready to be processed and distributed in the
downstream sector of the industry. This additional
transportation may take several different forms such
as:
1)Trucking – The oil may be trucked over highways
and roads to various facilities and processing plants.
Oil spills and traffic accident are
common environmental pollution
causes by trucking .
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF MIDSTREAM
PETROLEUM SECTOR:
2) Barge – Often the oil will be transported by barge or other
seafaring vessel. This can be a very time consuming process, but it is
the most efficient way for the oil to travel over oceans and other
large bodies of water. Spills of oil
are the most disaster pollution cause
oceans.

3)Rail – Oil is often transferred over land by rail providing a cost

effective and efficient option of transporting a large amount of oil
quickly. Spills of oil make pollution by this way.
 DOWSTREAM of PETROLEUM SECTOR:
The downstream sector is the refining of petroleum
crude oil and the processing and purifying of raw
natural gas , as well as the marketing and distribution
of products derived from crude oil and natural gas.
REFINING:
Crude oil cannot be used as it occurs in nature, other
than burning for fuel, which is wasteful. It must be
refined to manufacture finished products such as
gasoline and heating oil ..etc.
 DOWSTREAM of PETROLEUM SECTOR:
Oil refineries pollute :
- Oil refineries pollute our air, water, and land.
- Our air is polluted by up to 100 pollutants emitted
from the stacks and leaking equipment at refineries.
- Our land is polluted by the large amount of harmful
waste from refineries which needs to be dumped.
- Our water is polluted by the fallout from air pollution
and by refineries discharging
chemical pollutants into
waterways. Accidental oil
spills also pollute the
groundwater and open
waterways.