Though our government defines Natural Gas Liquids and Petroleum Condensates as different materials the reality is they are a very close overlap in many categories. Therefore here is the EIA standard description of Natural Gas Liquids;
Natural Gas Liquids (NGL): A group of hydrocarbons including ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline. Generally include natural gas plant liquids and all liquefied refinery gases except olefins.
Natural gas liquids production: The volume of natural gas liquids removed from natural gas in lease separators, field facilities, gas processing plants, or cycling plants during the report year.
Production, natural gas liquids: Production of natural gas liquids is classified as follows:
Contract Production. natural gas liquids accruing to a company because of its ownership of liquids extraction facilities that it uses to extract liquids from gas belonging to others, thereby earning a portion of the resultant liquids.
Leasehold Production. natural gas liquids produced, extracted, and credited to a company's interest.
Contract Reserves. Natural gas liquid reserves corresponding to the contract production defined above.
Leasehold Reserves. Natural gas liquid reserves corresponding to leasehold production defined above.
Other terms that include "natural gas liquids" in the definition.
Cycling (natural gas): The practice of producing natural gas for the extraction of natural gas liquids, returning the dry residue to the producing reservoir to maintain reservoir pressure and increase the ultimate recovery of natural gas liquids. The reinjected gas is produced for disposition after cycling operations are completed.
Foreign access: Refers to proved reserves of crude, condensate, and natural gas liquids applicable to long-term supply agreements with foreign governments or authorities in which the company or one of its affiliates acts as producer.
Fresh feed input: Represents input of material (crude oil, unfinished oils, natural gas liquids, other hydrocarbons and oxygenates or finished products) to processing units at a refinery that is being processed (input) into a particular unit for the first time.
Examples:
(1) Unfinished oils coming out of a crude oil distillation unit which are input into a catalytic cracking unit are considered fresh feed to the catalytic cracking unit.
(2) Unfinished oils coming out of a catalytic cracking unit being looped back into the same catalytic cracking unit to be reprocessed are not considered fresh feed.
Gas processing unit: A facility designed to recover natural gas liquids from a stream of natural gas that may or may not have passed through lease separators and/or field separation facilities. Another function of natural gas processing plants is to control the quality of the processed natural gas stream. Cycling plants are considered natural gas processing plants.
Hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL): A group of hydrocarbons including ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline, and their associated olefins, including ethylene, propylene, butylene, and isobutylene. As marketed products, HGL represents all natural gas liquids (NGL) and olefins. EIA reports production of HGL from refineries (liquefied refinery gas, or LRG) and natural gas plants (natural gas plant liquids, or NGPL). Excludes liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Liquid fuels: All petroleum including crude oil and products of petroleum refining, natural gas liquids, biofuels, and liquids derived from other hydrocarbon sources (including coal to liquids and gas to liquids). Not included are liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid hydrogen. See petroleum and other liquids.
Natural gas processing plant: Facilities designed to recover natural gas liquids from a stream of natural gas that may or may not have passed through lease separators and/or field separation facilities. These facilities control the quality of the natural gas to be marketed. Cycling plants are classified as gas processing plants.
New field discoveries: The volumes of proved reserves of crude oil, natural gas, and/or natural gas liquids discovered in new fields during the report year.
NGL: See natural gas liquids.
Paraffinic hydrocarbons: Saturated hydrocarbon compounds with the general formula CnH2n+2 containing only single bonds. Sometimes referred to as alkanes or natural gas liquids.
Petroleum and other liquids: All petroleum including crude oil and products of petroleum refining, natural gas liquids, biofuels, and liquids derived from other hydrocarbon sources (including coal to liquids and gas to liquids). Not included are liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid hydrogen. See liquid fuels.
Petroleum refinery: An installation that manufactures finished petroleum products from crude oil, unfinished oils, natural gas liquids, other hydrocarbons, and alcohol.
Plant liquids: Those volumes of natural gas liquids recovered in natural gas processing plants.
Plant or gas processing plant: A facility designated to achieve the recovery of natural gas liquids from the stream of natural gas, which may or may not have been processed through lease separators and field facilities, and to control the quality of the natural gas to be marketed.
Plant products: natural gas liquids recovered from natural gas processing plants (and in some cases from field facilities), including ethane, propane, butane, butane-propane mixtures, natural gasoline, plant condensate, and lease condensate.
Processing plant: A surface installation designed to separate and recover natural gas liquids from a stream of produced natural gas through the processes of condensation, absorption, adsorption, refrigeration, or other methods and to control the quality of natural gas marketed and/or returned to oil or gas reservoirs for pressure maintenance, repressuring, or cycling.
Refinery: An installation that manufactures finished petroleum products from crude oil, unfinished oils, natural gas liquids, other hydrocarbons, and oxygenates.
Refinery yield: Refinery yield (expressed as a percentage) represents the percent of finished product produced from input of crude oil and net input of unfinished oils. It is calculated by dividing the sum of crude oil and net unfinished input into the individual net production of finished products. Before calculating the yield for finished motor gasoline, the input of natural gas liquids, other hydrocarbons and oxygenates, and net input of motor gasoline blending components must be subtracted from the net production of finished aviation gasoline.
Shrinkage: The volume of natural gas that is transformed into liquid products during processing, primarily at natural gas liquids processing plants.
Total liquid hydrocarbon reserves: The sum of crude oil and natural gas liquids reserves volumes.