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INDUSTRY FACT FILE · OIL, GAS & PETROCHEMICALS

Main Products and Services in Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

What oil and gas companies produce and deliver, the operational and IT systems behind each activity and where they create cybersecurity and compliance exposure.

In this document

1. How oil and gas companies earn their money

2. Activities by organisation type

3. Operational technology and safety systems

4. Distribution, retail and corporate systems

5. The systems behind the products and services

6. Trends that change the attack surface

7. Mapping operations to Codec Networks engagements

1. How oil and gas companies earn their money

Revenue stream	How it works	Security relevance
Crude and gas production	Sales of oil and gas from fields	Upstream OT availability
Refining margins	Fuels and products from crude	Plant uptime and safety
Petrochemicals	Polymers and chemicals	Complex process control
Transportation tariffs	Pipeline and terminal charges	SCADA reliability
Fuel and gas retail	Retail fuel, LPG and city gas sales	Retail automation and payments

2. Activities by organisation type

Organisation type	Main activities	Key systems
E&P companies	Exploration, drilling, production	Wellhead controls, platform DCS, seismic data systems
Pipeline operators	Transport of crude, products and gas	Pipeline SCADA, RTUs, leak detection
Refineries and petrochemicals	Refining and chemical production	DCS, SIS, analysers, historians
Terminals	Storage, regasification, loading	Tank gauging, loading automation, terminal management
Retail and city gas	Fuel retail, LPG, PNG and CNG	Station automation, payment terminals, CGD SCADA

3. Operational technology and safety systems

Plants and pipelines are controlled by distributed control systems and SCADA, protected by safety instrumented systems (SIS) that bring processes to a safe state. Engineering workstations configure these systems, historians collect data for IT, and many components are legacy and vendor-maintained.

4. Distribution, retail and corporate systems

Fuel retail networks run station automation and payment systems managed centrally. Billing, trading, ERP and email run on corporate IT—and many operational processes, such as scheduling, invoicing and custody transfer, depend on IT systems even when OT is unaffected.

Highest-risk moments

Engineering workstations with access to safety systems, contractor laptops during turnarounds, vendor remote access and OT's hidden dependencies on IT are where oil and gas incidents typically escalate.

5. The systems behind the products and services

Title: Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the oil and gas value chain. - Description: Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the oil and gas value chain.

Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the oil and gas value chain.

Product / service	Systems that deliver it	Key cyber and compliance touchpoints
Upstream	Platform DCS, wellhead controls, satellite links	Remote access control, segmentation
Pipelines	SCADA, RTUs, leak detection	SCADA assessment, communications security
Refining	DCS, SIS, analysers	SIS isolation, engineering workstation controls
Terminals	Tank gauging, loading systems	Automation assessment, integrity checks
Retail	Station automation, payments	Remote management and payment security
Corporate IT	ERP, billing, trading, email	Segmentation, EDR, backups

6. Trends that change the attack surface

Trend	What is changing	Security implication
Digital refinery initiatives	Analytics, digital twins and IIoT	More IT/OT connections
City gas expansion	Rapid growth of CGD networks	New SCADA and metering estates
Retail automation	Centrally managed outlets	Fleet-wide remote management risk
Remote operations	Remote monitoring of unmanned sites	Remote access as a key risk
Regulatory focus on audits	CERT-In audit guidelines and CII protection	More formal assurance

7. Mapping operations to Codec Networks engagements

If the company operates…	Recommended starting engagement
Refineries or petrochemical plants	OT assessment, SIS security review, contractor controls
Pipelines or city gas networks	SCADA and RTU assessment, remote access review
Terminals	Terminal automation and tank gauging assessment
Fuel retail networks	Station automation and payment security testing
Upstream and offshore assets	Remote connectivity, PAM and backup reviews

Talk to Codec Networks

Contact

Codec Networks Pvt. Ltd.

New Delhi: 507, 5th Floor, New Delhi House, Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110001

Gurugram: 707, 7th Floor, Silverton Tower, Golf Course Extension Road, Sector 50, Gurugram – 122018, Haryana

Landline: 011 430 496 96 | 011 437 522 99 Mobile: +91 99716 76124 | +91 88007 88220 | +91 88003 31124

Email: mktg@codecnetworks.com Web: www.codecnetworks.com

Note: Descriptions are general and based on public information available as of October 2026.