Crude oil and natural gas: Supply and disposition, January 2018
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Released: 2018-04-18
Canada produced 21.6 million cubic metres (135.9 million barrels) of crude oil and equivalent products in January, up 1.8% compared with the same month in 2017.
Crude oil production
Compared with the same month a year earlier, January production increases of non-upgraded crude bitumen (+6.0%), light and medium (+5.6%), and equivalent products (+20.7%) were largely offset by decreases in synthetic (-9.4%) and heavy (-4.2%) crude oils. A temporary outage at an Alberta facility contributed to the reported decreases in synthetic crude.
Meanwhile, the gains in non-upgraded crude bitumen in January were driven by higher in-situ production (up 3.2% to 8.0 million cubic metres), and lower volumes being sent for further processing (-11.8% to 5.8 million cubic metres). Mined production decreased 7.8% to 6.3 million cubic metres.
Chart 1
Production of crude oil and equivalent products
Crude oil extraction and oil sands extraction
In January, crude oil production (excluding equivalent products) totalled 19.9 million cubic metres, up 0.5% from the same month a year earlier. Oil sands extraction (formerly non-conventional oil extraction), which consists of non-upgraded crude bitumen and synthetic crude oil, edged down 0.4% to 13.7 million cubic metres.
Over the same period, oil extraction (formerly conventional oil extraction) of light, medium and heavy crude oils increased 2.3% to 6.2 million cubic metres.
Chart 2
Crude oil and oil sands extraction
Provincial production
Alberta produced 17.5 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in January, up 2.6% from the same month a year earlier, accounting for 81.1% of total Canadian production. Saskatchewan (11.1%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (5.2%) were also key producing provinces.
Refinery use of crude oil
Input of crude oil to Canadian refineries totalled 8.6 million cubic metres in January, down 2.2% from the same month a year earlier. Light, medium and heavy crude oils accounted for 64.9% of the total, while crude from oil sands represented the remaining 35.1%. Light and medium crude (4.4 million cubic metres) and synthetic crude (2.5 million cubic metres) continued to be the main types of oil used by Canadian refineries.
Exports and imports
Exports of crude oil and equivalent products were up 4.4% year over year to 17.4 million cubic metres in January. The increase was largely attributable to higher exports from Newfoundland and Labrador, up 67.5% to 1.1 million cubic metres. The vast majority of exports (88.4%) were still transported via pipelines to the United States, while exports by other means (including rail, truck, and marine) to the United States accounted for 8.4%. The remaining 3.1% of exports went to countries other than the United States.
Imports to Canadian refineries were down 13.2% to 2.8 million cubic metres.
Chart 3
Exports and imports of crude oil and equivalent products
Closing inventories
Closing inventories of crude oil and equivalent products were down 2.4% from the same month a year earlier to 18.7 million cubic metres in January. The total was comprised of transporters (-2.0% to 12.1 million cubic metres), fields and plants (-10.4% to 2.7 million cubic metres) and refineries (+2.6% to 4.0 million cubic metres).
Natural gas production
Marketable natural gas production in Canada totalled 15.2 billion cubic metres in January, up 4.9% from the same month a year earlier. Production of natural gas was concentrated in Alberta (68.8%) and British Columbia (29.1%).
Additional information on natural gas is available in "Natural gas transmission, storage and distribution," published in The Daily on April 18, 2018.
Note to readers
As of the January 2018 reference month, in accordance to the 2017 NAICS update (2017 NAICS), Conventional crude oil will be referred to as oil extraction, while non-conventional crude oil will be referred to as oil sands extraction.
Data on crude oil and equivalent products, previously found in CANSIM table 126-0001, are now published in CANSIM table 126-0003. While CANSIM table 126-0001 will remain available for reference, users should exercise caution when comparing data with those of the new CANSIM table.
Information on the disposition of crude oil and equivalent products to refineries by province and on exports to the United States by district were discontinued. New data on imports, exports, input to Canadian refineries and inventories were added to CANSIM table 126-0003.
Data from January to December 2017 have been revised.
Crude oil and equivalent products include heavy, light and medium crude oil, synthetic crude oil, crude bitumen, condensate, and pentanes plus.
Export data are a combination of National Energy Board data and survey respondents' data.
Import data include imports of crude oil by refineries and by others.
Total marketable gas includes receipts from fields, gas gathering systems and/or gas plants.
The crude oil and natural gas supply and disposition program uses respondent data as well as administrative data provided by federal, provincial and territorial authorities with regulatory responsibilities within their respective jurisdictions.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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