What Happens After Oil and Gas Leaves the Ground? Understanding the Integrated Value Chain

Inspired by investment bank research, I mapped out how a single barrel of crude oil branches into dozens of end products.

Notes
🛢️ Crude Oil. Raw petroleum extracted from the ground. Primary feedstock for the entire downstream value chain.
🏭 Fuel Refinery. Processing plant that converts crude oil into usable products through distillation and cracking.
⛽ Fuels - Refined petroleum products.
🚗 Gasoline & Gasoil. Petrol for vehicles and diesel for heavy transport. Largest revenue segment of refining.
✈️ Jet Fuel. Aviation kerosene.
⚗️ Naphtha (Cracker). Light petroleum fraction fed into steam crackers. Key bridge between refining and petrochemicals.
🟡 Sulphur. Byproduct of refining (desulphurization). Used in fertilisers, chemicals, vulcanisation of rubber.
🧪 Butadiene & Chemicals. Base petrochemicals produced from cracking. Feedstock for synthetic rubber, plastics, resins.
♻️ 3 PVC. Polyvinyl Chloride - pipes, window frames, flooring, cable insulation.
♻️ 4 PE. Polyethylene - packaging films, bottles, containers. Most produced plastic globally.
♻️ 9 ABS. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene - electronics housings, LEGO bricks, automotive trim.
♻️ 5 PP. Polypropylene - food containers, automotive parts, textiles, medical devices. Second most produced plastic.
🔵 LPG. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (propane/butane). Byproduct of refining and natural gas processing. Stored under pressure.
🚢 LNG. Liquefied Natural Gas. Natural gas cooled to -162°C for transport by tanker.
🔥 Cooking Gas. LPG/LNG used as household fuel. Primary energy source for cooking in emerging markets.
🚚 Transport. Gas as vehicle fuel (CNG for buses/trucks, LNG for heavy freight and shipping). Cleaner alternative to diesel.
🌱 Fertiliser. Natural gas is the primary feedstock for ammonia → urea → nitrogen fertilisers. Critical for global food supply.
⚡ Power. Gas-fired power generation. Flexible peaking capacity, lower emissions than coal. Key transition fuel.
🟢 Helium. Extracted as byproduct of natural gas production. Non-renewable, increasingly scarce. No synthetic substitute exists.
🔲 Semiconductors. Helium used for cooling during chip fabrication, leak detection, and as carrier gas in lithography.
🚀 Aerospace / Defence. Helium used in rocket propulsion systems purging, pressurisation of fuel tanks, wind tunnel testing, satellite cooling.
🏥 Healthcare. Helium is essential for MRI scanners (superconducting magnet cooling), respiratory treatments, and cryogenics.