Midstream Oil and Gas | Midstream | Midstream Assets

Midstream Oil and Gas
www.MidstreamOilAndGas.com

Midstream Oil and Gas
The Leading Resource & #1 Site for the Midstream Oil and Gas Industry

Employment
Jobs, Open Positions, Recruiting, Resumes

Midstream Oil and Gas

Cryogenic Plant, Gas Gathering, Gas Processing, Liquefied Natural Gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas,
Midstream Assets, Natural Gas Liquids, Natural Gas Treating and NGL Fractionation, NGL Recovery

Acquisitions, Business Development, Engineering, Finance, Sales,
Strategic Marketing and Midstream Oil and Gas Development Services

For more information, call/email:

info@MidstreamOilAndGas.com

Support Domestic Oil and Gas Production

The downstream sector usually refers to crude oil refineries and the selling and distribution of natural gas and products derived from crude oil. These products include Liquefied Petroleum Gas or "LPG," gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, and other fuel oils, as well as asphalt and petroleum coke.

Midstream Assets include those assets and services that link the supply side of the value chain within the industry, to the demand side for for these energy commodities.

The Midstream Assets and the Midstream sector in the bridge between the energy producers and the energy end-users and - therefore, can only be as strong as the weakest link or bridge within the midstream oil and gas sector.

Amine plants are used for "gas sweetening" in the midstream oil and gas sector known as "gas processing." Amine plants provide H2S removal as well as CO2 removal from natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons. The process involves both absorption and chemical reactions.

We provide amine plant sales and natural gas processing and engineering services.

Gas compressors are mechanical device that increase the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. Gas compressors are responsible for moving the natural gas from the oil or natural gas production well to homes and businesses via natural gas pipelines and gas compression stations. Gas compression also increases the temperature of the gas during compression.

Gas Gathering systems are the physical facilities that accumulate and transport natural gas from a well to an acceptance point of a transportation pipeline are called a gas gathering system.

Natural Gas Processing plants separate the various hydrocarbons and natural gas liquids from the pure natural gas (methane or CH4) to produce what is known as 'pipeline quality' natural gas. Natural gas pipeline companies have requirements on natural gas they buy from producers which is why the natural gas processing plants are located where they are, and why they separate the ethane, propane, butane, and pentanes from the methane. Natural gas liquids or NGLs include ethane, propane, butane, iso-butane, and natural gasoline.

Sulfur exists in natural gas and is known as hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Natural gas is usually considered "sour" if hydrogen sulfides content exceeds 5.7 milligrams of H2S per cubic meter of natural gas. The process hydrogen sulfide removal from sour gas is commonly referred to as "gas sweetening."

The primary process for sweetening sour natural gas is quite similar to the processes of glycol dehydration and NGL absorption. In this case, however, amine solutions are used to remove the hydrogen sulfide. This process is known simply as the 'amine process', or alternatively as the Girdler process, and is used in 95 percent of U.S. gas sweetening operations. The sour gas is run through a tower, which contains the amine solution. This solution has an affinity for sulfur, and absorbs it much like glycol absorbing water. There are two principle amine solutions used, monoethanolamine (MEA) and diethanolamine (DEA). Either of these compounds, in liquid form, will absorb sulfur compounds from natural gas as it passes through. The effluent gas is virtually free of sulfur compounds, and thus loses its sour gas status. Like the process for NGL extraction and glycol dehydration, the amine solution used can be regenerated (that is, the absorbed sulfur is removed), allowing it to be reused to treat more sour gas.

Although most sour gas sweetening involves the amine absorption process, it is also possible to use solid desiccants like iron sponges to remove the sulfide and carbon dioxide.

Sulfur can be sold and used if reduced to its elemental form. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow powder like material, and can often be seen in large piles near gas treatment plants, as is shown. In order to recover elemental sulfur from the gas processing plant, the sulfur containing discharge from a gas sweetening process must be further treated. The process used to recover sulfur is known as the Claus process, and involves using thermal and catalytic reactions to extract the elemental sulfur from the hydrogen sulfide solution.

Glycol dehydration is used in the production and processing of natural gas by using a liquid desiccant that removes water from natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL).

H2S, or Hydrogen Sulfide, is a hazardous and corrosive element found in oil and natural gas which needs to be removed from the hydrocarbon before the oil or natural gas can be sold. The hydrogen sulfides are usually removed in a mid-stream gas processing facility by either iron sponges or amine plants.

What is a Heater Treater?

A "Heater Treater" is used in the oil and gas production process and is used to removes water and gas from the produced oil - and to improve its quality for sale into a crude oil pipeline or for other transport. A heater treater typically combines the following components inside the heater treater: a heater, free-water knockout, and oil and gas separator.

Master Limited Partnership (MLPs) are limited partnerships that are publicly traded on a securities exchange.

MLPs combine the tax benefits of Limited Partnerships with the liquidity and protection/oversight of a publicly traded security.

Master Limited Partnerships are limited by regulation to apply to specific businesses - most notably - natural resources, including; oil and natural gas extraction and transportation.

To qualify for MLP status, a partnership must generate at least 90 percent of its income from "qualifying" sources/resources. For many Master Limited Partnerships, this includes activities related to the production, processing or transportation of oil, natural gas and coal.

Master Limited Partnerships pay their investors through Quarterly Required Distributions or QRDs. The amount of the QRDs is stated in the contract between the Limited Partners (the investors) and the General Partner (the managers). Failure of the General Partner to pay the quarterly required distributions constitutes a default of the MLP Agreement.

Due to the stringent provisions on Master Limited Partnerships and the QRD, the majority of all Master Limited Partnerships are pipeline businesses, and natural gas companies engaged in the "midstream" oil and natural gas sector, which generated a reliable and steady income from the oil and natural gas sector.

Because MLPs are a partnership, there is no corporate income tax at either the state or federal level. The Limited Partners (investors) are able to record a pro-rated share of the investment in the Master Limited Partnership's depreciation on their personal income tax filings which further reduces their (that year's) tax liabilities. This is the primary benefit of Master Limited Partnerships and provides MLPs relatively inexpensive funding and capital costs. Simultaneously, this makes Master Limited Partnerships unattractive to "tax-deferred funds" that are unable to utilize this tax savings advantage. To encourage tax-deferred investors, MLPs set up new corporation holding companies for their Limited Partner's claims which can then issue equity.

In most new Master Limited Partnerships, the General Partner starts out with a small stake or position in the company - typically in the 2% to 5% range. However, the MLP receives "incentive distributions" from the net income after the Quarterly Required Distributions. As the incentive distributions are normally paid in the form of increased equity claims this allows the General Partner to attain an increasingly greater percentage of ownership in the company over time.

As natural gas is produced from either a natural gas well, or from an oilwell which contains "associated gas," the natural gas must be treated or processed before it can be used at a home or business as a fuel.

Natural gas treating or processing, takes place at gas processing plants to remove the impurities and other hydrocarbons other than the methane itself, or CH4.

The by-products and impurities of natural gas that must be treated or processed include; ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, pentane, isopentane and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, as well as H2S or elemental sulfur, carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor and sometimes helium and nitrogen.

Terminalling and Storage is a term used in the oil and natural gas industry that refers to the midstream natural gas gathering and crude oil gathering, pipeline, transportation and storage facilities. Terminals are facilities where natural gas and crude oil is transferred to or from storage, transportation network (other pipelines or trucks) for distribution, refining (for crude oil) or gas processing (for natural gas). Terminals are an integral and key component in the natural gas and crude oil to end-users by providing natural gas storage and crude oil storage, as well as inventory management, distribution and gas processing and blending to achieve "pipeline quality gas" and specific crude oil grades.

The Upstream Oil and Gas segment is a term that refers to the searching, drilling and production of crude oil and natural gas. The Upstream Oil and Gas segment is also known as the "exploration and production" or "E&P" segment.

The Upstream Oil and Gas segment includes; exploring for potential underground (or underwater) oil and natural gas fields (or reservoirs), drilling of exploratory wells, and operating/producing the oil and natural gas wells that "pay" with crude oil and/or natural gas.