The oilfield equipment and services industry (known as OFS) refers to all products and services that happen within the oil and gas exploration and production process. This includes the upstream sector of the energy industry, including companies that manufacture, repair, and maintenance oil and gas field equipment used in oil extraction and transportation.
Services Available
There are Oil and Gas Field Services available from these companies. This might include seismic testing, transport services, and directional services for horizontal drillers. You may even seek out well construction, and production, and completion services.
Although these are the most common services, there are various other services as well. The oil and gas field industry also includes locating energy sources, energy data management, drilling and formation evaluation, geological sciences, and many others.
Different Oil and Gas Sectors
There are a variety of different oil and gas industry sectors. The energy sector has three key areas: Upstream, midstream, and downstream.
Upstream
Upstream is E&P. This means exploration and exploration. Essentially this form of the industry involves the search for gas fields underwater. Whether you have an idea of where one might be or want to find an underground field, you would hire someone from this sector. Crude oil fields and natural gas fields can be found in a variety of places, but they must be found before you can start digging. This may even include the exploration wells and drilling into already established wells to recover oil and gas.
Midstream
Midstream is the section of the industry that involves the transportation, storage, and processing of oil and gas. After recovering resources, you will need the crude material to be transported to a refinery. Typically, this is on the other side of the world, or another country, from the oil field or gas reserve. Transportation might be through tanker ships to pipelines, or to fleets of trucks to carry the product.
Downstream
Downstream is the act of filtering raw materials from the upstream phase. Essentially this is the part of the process where the oil and gas are purified or refined. These products will then be turned into natural gas, diesel oil, petrol, gasoline, lubricants, jet fuel, and even asphalt.
Where Do Oilfield Services Fit in Within the Oil and Gas Industry
Oil and gas field services have enabled the development of a specialized oilfield service industry. This provides technology and innovation to the entire industry. There are three aspects to this industry:
- Economies of scale: This includes the specialization of companies in the logistics chain. This provides competition for suppliers, but also promotes technical innovation. This brings you the best services possible.
- The efficiency of capital: Because service companies can work with a variety of clients, you can have better services for a fair price.
Overall, with the rise of this industry, we have seen drilling and eco-friendly behaviors become more accessible. Rather than struggle to find rental equipment and provide efficient services, it has become easy to facilitate and help those within the industry.