Oil can be transported by a variety of methods, including water-borne barges and tankers, pipelines, railways, trucks and even horse wagons. Which mode is the most appropriate depends on the volume of oil that is being shipped, the distance and the destination. In comparison, gas transportation is pretty much limited to pipelines unless it is converted to liquid.

The pipeline is the most commonly used method of transporting oil and gas on land. Pipelines are typically used to move crude oil from the wellhead to gathering and processing facilities and from there to refineries and tanker loading facilities. Pipelines require significantly less energy and manpower to operate than trucks or shipping by railway and therefore are usually the most economical way of shipping oil and gas on land, particularly over long distance and large volume.

Railways are another mode of transporting oil over a long distance to areas where there are no pipelines. Although the capacity of each railway tank car may be limited, when many tank cars are used a lot of oil can be transported. For example, a common tank car used in the United States is the DOT-111 car, which can hold 34,500 US gallons (820 bbl). If 20 such tank cars were pulled, the train would be carrying 690,000 US gallons (16,400 bbl) of oil. Compared to pipelines, the advantages of railways are that the capital cost required is lower and the construction period is shorter. However, railways tend to have higher carbon emissions and are more prone to accidents than pipelines.

Where transportation over land is not suitable, oil can be transported by tankers and barges. A tanker is a ship with separate tanks for the bulk transport of oil or its products. Tankers remain the only practical way of shipping oil and liquefied natural gas across oceans. Barges are smaller and do not have any method of propulsion. Rather, barges are often pushed or towed by tugs, and cannot travel across rough seas. The capacity of tankers and barges can be very large. A typical 30,000-barrel tank barge can carry the equivalent of 40 rail tank cars at about one-third of the cost.