Lesson 4: Energy Commodity Logistics - Natural Gas - Hidden

Overview

Figure 1. Overall Energy Commodity Logistics Chart - Natural Gas.

Source: Dutton e-Education Institute

This graphic illustrates the various steps in the process of getting crude oil and natural gas from the wells all the way to market. As you can see, there is wellhead aggregation (gathering), the "cleaning" of the raw stream, and production of valuable natural gas liquids (processing or refining), the transportation and storage, and finally, the distribution and retail delivery to the various end-users. As you will see, each step along this "path" will have some costs associated with it and most will represent an opportunity for generating revenue. These will add to the total profit that can be derived from the initial wellhead product.

Learning Outcomes

At the successful completion of this lesson, students should be able to:

• Define the steps in the movement of natural gas from the wellhead to the end-user (“wellhead-to-burnertip” path).
• Recognize the “value chain” along the path.
• Understand the general methods of transporting natural gas from well to end-user.
  • Gathering
  • Processing & Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs)
  • Pipeline
  • Storage
  • Distribution/End-Use

What is due for Lesson 4?

This lesson will take us one week to complete. There are a number of required activities in this module. The chart below provides an overview of the activities for Lesson 4. For assignment details, refer to the location noted.

All assignments will be due Sunday, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please post them to our Questions? discussion forum (not e-mail), located under the Communicate tab in ANGEL. The TA and I will check that discussion forum daily to respond. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.