The process of the hydrocarbon production sector develops in four stages, composed in turn of phases or activities. The stages are:
· Extraction, which also includes searching and drilling.
· Transportation, that is, the transfer of hydrocarbons from the so-called wellhead to processing plants.
· Processing that includes refining and/or separation.
· The distribution and sale of by-products.
The first stage involves carrying out exploration studies and diagnostics that result in the extraction of hydrocarbons. It is considered in our country as a monoproduct, since geological characteristics mean that these activities are carried out together for both oil and gas.
The techniques used in the first link imply that in some fields the natural gas that emerges together with the oil can be injected into gas pipelines, consumed to generate electricity in the reservoir, reinjected into the formation to pressure the exit of hydrocarbons still encrypted or vented into the atmosphere.
Once hydrocarbons have been extracted, part is destined for export and the rest goes to the processing stage in which different types of fuels are generated that are essential for land, river and air transport and for certain types of railways, as well as for agricultural and construction machinery.
In addition, depending on the national electricity generation matrix, fuels are a central input in the generation of electricity, using different thermal production technologies (steam power plants, combined cycles, turbo diesel, turbo gas and diesel engines).
Additionally, fuels are used by the industry for the operation of furnaces, boilers, forges, as well as by homes, businesses and services to meet cooking, water heating and air conditioning needs.
On the other hand, hydrocarbon refining produces inputs for the petrochemical industry, as well as products for end or intermediate use in chemical, pharmaceutical, plastics and packaging industries.
In percentage terms, the hydrocarbons extracted are distributed according to the destinations in: gas distributed in networks (39%), liquid fuels (36%), electricity (19%), LPG (4%) and the rest of the primary products (2%). The importance of this chain in the functioning of the production system is mainly due to the structural difficulty of replacing hydrocarbons with renewable energies in the primary energy matrix and to the existing electrical generation infrastructure, which is highly dependent on thermal energy.
