The oil and gas industry has been among the largest sectors of the planet for years in terms of dollar value. Oil is extremely crucial to the economic framework of the world, especially for its largest producers, which are Saudi Arabia, the United States, Canada, Russia and China.  A lot of professionals’ work in this industry, Paul Favret being one of them. A lot of oil and gas investments and jobs are based in regional towns and rural regions, thereby providing a range of benefits to the neighborhood, and contributing to the creation of stronger, more resilient local communities.

Hydrocarbons make up natural gas and crude oil, which essentially are naturally occurring substances found in the rocks in the crust of the earth. These organic raw materials are created by the compression of the remains of animals and plants in sedimentary rocks like shale, limestone and sandstone. The sedimentary rock itself is a product of deposits in ancient oceans and other bodies of water. The decaying remains of plants and animals are integrated into the forming rock, as layers of sediment are deposited on the ocean floor. This organic material eventually transforms into gas and oil, subsequent to being exposed to particular temperatures and pressure ranges deep within the crust of the earth.

Oil and gas are less dense than water and therefore they migrate through porous sedimentary rock towards the surface of the earth. When hydrocarbons are trapped beneath the less porous cap rock, a gas and oil reservoir is formed. Such reservoirs basically represent the sources of gas and crude oil. Hydrocarbons are brought to the surface by drilling through the cap rock, and then into the reservoir. As the drill bit reaches the reservoir, a productive gas or oil well can be constructed and subsequently hydrocarbons can be pumped to the surface. If the drilling activity does not find any such commercially viable quantities of hydrocarbons, the well tends to be classified as a dry hole, and is usually plugged and abandoned.

Broadly speaking, the gas and oil industry is broken down into three key segments, upstream, midstream and downstream. Upstream businesses comprise of companies that are linked with the exploration and production of oil and gas. They basically search the world for reservoirs of the raw materials and subsequently drill them in order to extract the material. On the other hand, midstream businesses are more focused on transportation, and tend to be responsible for moving the raw material extracted to the refineries so that they can be processed. Midstream companies are characterized by pipelines, storing, trucking and shipping of raw materials. Ultimately there are downstream businesses or refineries that are responsible for removing impurities and converting the oil and gas to develop products for the end-users.

Paul Favret is the CEO and Founder of Source Energy Partners LP and an expert in the oil and gas sector in the USA. Owing to his industry experience, he has quite extensive knowledge of the oil and gas sector. Hence, through him, one can gain better insight into this domain.