The final sector of the oil and natural gas industry is known as downstream. This includes everything involved in turning crude oil and natural gas into thousands of finished products we depend on every day.
Downstream industry is the portion of the oil and natural gas industry that is responsible for the refining, distributing, and retail of petroleum products. This portion of industry includes oil refineries, petrochemical plants, petroleum products distributors, and natural gas distribution companies.
The different sectors within the downstream industry include:
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Distributors
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Retail outlets (like gasoline stations)
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Production plants
Downstream industry provides numerous products such as jet fuel, gasoline, diesel, synthetic rubber, plastics, pesticides, heating oils and asphalt for building roads, propane.
Long-chain hydrocarbons found in both oil and natural gas are used to make far less obvious products like synthetic rubbers, fertilizers, preservatives, containers, and plastics for parts in countless products.
Oil and natural gas products are even used to make artificial limbs, hearing aids and flame-retardant clothing to protect firefighters. In fact, paints, dyes, fibers and just about anything that is manufactured has some connection to oil and natural gas.
