While enjoying an outstanding breakfast of eggs, blueberry pancakes, coffee, and orange juice a few days ago, I was struck by the miracle of modern logistics.
In addition to the culinary skills of my blushing bride of 37 years, I was the beneficiary of oranges from Florida, coffee from Colombia, butter from California, eggs from Iowa, flour from the Midwest, maple syrup from Vermont, sugar from all over the place, and blueberries from the Pacific Northwest.
How did all this stuff find its way to my plate? Modern logistics!
I say “modern” because these kinds of supply chains weren’t possible until a variety of innovations came together, including standardized shipping containers, buildout of our transportation infrastructure, and things like GPS and real-time tracking.
What we accept as normal would be seen as miraculous to someone like my father when he was a child. He grew up as a dairy and dirt farmer in eastern Kentucky in the 1920s and 30s. In his youth, the family grew and prepared their own food. By the time he was raising me, everything came from the store down the street — everything.
Today, most people go through life with little understanding of where all the conveniences of modern life come from, and they don’t care so long as it is there. We notice logistics, however, when something is no longer easily available. Then we get upset.
The insatiable modern demand for energy drives a similarly magnificent and complex American logistics effort. Like food logistics, energy logistics become visible only when there is a rare failure. This is why the midstream industry, which delivers most natural gas, oil, and fuels to families and businesses in the U.S. and enables nearly everything, including our standard of living, is known as the “Invisible Industry.”
Focusing just on the natural gas transportation complex:
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. natural gas pipeline network is a highly integrated transmission and distribution grid that transports natural gas to and from nearly any location in the lower 48 States.
The pipeline network includes:
- About 3 million miles of mainline and other pipelines that link natural gas production areas and storage facilities with end users.
- More than 1,400 compressor stations, 11,000 delivery points, 1,400 interconnection points, 24 hubs, 400 underground storage facilities, 49 locations where natural gas can be imported or exported via pipelines, and a growing number of LNG export facilities.
- In 2022, this natural gas transportation network delivered about 29.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to about 78.3 million consumers.
Transporting natural gas from production areas to families and businesses involves a series of steps that are generally carried out in the following order (EIA):
- Gathering systems, primarily made up of small-diameter, low-pressure pipelines, move raw natural gas from the wellhead to a natural gas processing plant or to an interconnection with a larger mainline pipeline.
- Natural gas processing plants separate hydrocarbon gas liquids, nonhydrocarbon gases, and water from the natural gas before the natural gas is delivered into a mainline transmission system.
- Wide-diameter, high-pressure interstate transmission pipelines that cross state boundaries and intrastate transmission pipelines that operate within state boundaries transport natural gas from the producing and processing areas to storage facilities and distribution centers. Compressor stations (or pumping stations) on the pipeline network keep the natural gas flowing forward through the pipeline system.
- Local distribution companies deliver natural gas to consumers through small-diameter, lower-pressure service lines.
The midstream industry employs more than 300,000 in North America, and is expected to add another 60,000 jobs by 2035. Average income in midstream is $90,000 to 100,000 per year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The bottom line is that the midstream industry is a large and complex national transportation and distribution system involving many people and significant private investment. It is the “Invisible Industry” because it does its job so well in delivering reliable, safe, cheap energy to society. Sadly, most Americans are unaware of how the midstream industry enables modern life and our standard of living — including providing the ingredients needed to make my Sunday brunch.
It’s up to midstream companies and their employees to help industry organizations like GPA Midstream and universities like Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi educate our neighbors, students, teachers, and leaders about the midstream industry and its importance to our nation.
Thomas Kalb is Director of the Coastal Bend Midstream Program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He is a regular contributor to the Let’s Clear the Air blog, where he writes about issues, policies, and considerations impacting how we produce and use energy.
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