Includes all natural gas treatment and fractionation processes that make its various components available for further industrial operations, such as many petrochemical and chemical processes. Alternatively, natural gas or its components can be burnt to obtain heat and steam for industrial and domestic uses or to produce energy. This category also includes the liquefaction of gas to facilitate its transport by ship. In this case it is necessary to achieve a higher level of purity of the gas upstream of the LNG plants. The production plants are normally located onshore in strategic locations and they receive gaseous hydrocarbons obtained in the Oil & Gas production plants. The main processes are: