Repsol YPF

This is why transportation plays such an important role in the petroleum industry. Petroleum is transported through oil ships or different channelling methods: the pipes crossing a particular route are called oil pipelines, gas pipelines and other types of "ducts", such as the polyducts for fuel, which carry the raw material from the production spot to the refining or shipping spot. An efficient transportation network that is able to transfer millions of tons.

Huge flow

Usually, once it gets to the coast, the so-called black gold is refined in refineries. The volume of petroleum that can be transported through oil pipelines and gas pipelines, either over or beneath the surface, depends on the diameter of the pipes. In the place of origin and also in other points of the route, depending on the topography, pumping units are placed in order to propel the fluid whenever it is necessary for the liquid to surmount a drop. 

Petroleum consists of a mixture of different types of hydrocarbons that must be purified and decomposed into different useful elements. Due to the fact that the oil deposits are located in different places, it is absolutely necessary to take both the petroleum and the derived products through long distances, even in the case of self-supplying countries. This is a flammable, polluting substance. It is very important to keep safety during the transportation process to keep up sustainability. This is the reason why in oil ships –the biggest vessels in the world-, the cargo space is divided into different areas and the distribution network is provided with systems that regulate the petroleum flow in order to prevent emergency situations. As to the other vessels –methane carriers, fuel carriers, etc. , the regulations -just like in the case of road and rail transport- set forth technical limits and serve to control the routes in order to keep safety.

Multiple formats

Since petroleum refining activities began, different methods have been used in order to process crude oil. As a result of the different processes it undergoes, it is transformed into different types of fuel, such as liquefied petroleum gas, fuel, kerosene, fuel for aerojets, diesel gas-oil, heating gas-oil... But, apart from these types of fuel, we must take into account substances such as cooking gas or power-gas, gas for engines, gas for lighting, fertilisers, diluents, plasticizers, resins and fibres to make plastics and textile products, paints and lacquers, printer inks, etc. 

Petroleum and petroleum-derived products are intended for consumers. Different wholesale suppliers and retailers take part in this process. Their strategy is providing their customers with the best services. 

The case of gas deserves to be commented on separately. It arrives to our homes through pipes, if it is power-gas, or in gas cylinders if it is butane or propane. It is used as fuel for domestic or industrial purposes and also to generate thermoelectric energy. In the industrial sector it is used as raw material for petrochemical firms. Polyethylene, for instance, which is the main component of many different materials, is obtained from natural gas, which is also the source from which propane is obtained.  

In Spain, most of the existing logistics premises, that is to say, the storage and transportation premises, belong to the Compania Logistica de Hidrocarburos (CLH); while 15% of the CLH shares are owned by Repsol YPF.

Distribution agencies offer different petroleum-derived products for different purposes. Thus, there are service stations for motor vehicles, there are premises to provide planes with kerosene at the airport and there are other specialised firms that deliver tanks containing different products. The distribution network reaches our homes and, at the same time, it provides industry with heavy fuels for industrial kilns and boilers and also with raw material to produce plastic, asphalt, wax, bitumen, paint and lubricant... Thus, if we take a look around us, we will find out that petroleum is everywhere, not just as a source of energy, but also as part of many everyday objects.

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