Energy statistics, November 2020

Released: 2021-02-05

Energy production continued to trend upward in November, while demand for energy products remained soft during the second wave of the pandemic. In November 2020, crude oil and equivalent products and refinery production approached the pre-pandemic levels of March, but were lower compared with November 2019. Oil sands production and solar and wind energy generation rose, while natural gas, electricity and coal production declined.

For more information on energy in Canada, including production, consumption, international trade and much more, please visit the Canadian Centre for Energy Information website and follow #energynews on social media.

Decline in crude oil production continues to ease

Production of crude oil and equivalent products fell 1.3% year over year to 22.9 million cubic metres (143.8 million barrels) in November. This marked the smallest year-over-year decrease in eight months, as Canadian production approached pre-pandemic levels of March 2020.

Extraction of heavy, light and medium crude oils, which has been trending downward since April, fell again in November (-15.4%). The decline was attributable to lower production in Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Nevertheless, November saw the highest monthly production level since March, due directly to synthetic crude oil (+23.6%). Overall, oil sands extraction was up 5.7%, the first year-over-year gain since March.

Daily production of crude oil (excluding equivalent products) rose 8.4% from October to 690.7 thousand cubic metres in November, the third consecutive monthly increase. Moreover, daily oil sands production totalled 502.0 thousand cubic metres in November, the highest production on record.

Chart 1 
Average daily production of crude oil

Extensive maintenance work at several oil sands facilities was completed in October. Higher prices for Canadian crude oil also contributed to increased production in November. Following three straight monthly decreases, the price of crude bitumen rose 5.1% from October to November, while the price for synthetic crude oil was up 2.2%, the first increase since August.

Global consumption of crude oil continued to rise slowly, up 0.9% from October to November. This was the third consecutive monthly increase. Nevertheless, global consumption remained 6.1% below November 2019 levels, as reported by the US Energy Information Administration.

Exports of crude oil and equivalent products rose 2.6% year over year to 17.7 million cubic metres in November, the first year-over-year increase since March. The gain was primarily driven by exports by pipelines (+9.9%), as producers took advantage of spare pipeline capacity to ship additional crude to US-based refineries. Exports to other countries were also up in November.

Exports to the United States by other means (rail, road and marine) were down 42.5% to 1.5 million cubic metres. Nevertheless, exports by other means have been trending higher since bottoming out in June, indicating an increasing demand for additional transport capacity, as production of crude oil continued to rise.

Imports of crude oil and equivalent products fell 15.3% to 3.3 million cubic metres in November. The year-over-year decline was due to lower volumes imported by refineries, as some Canadian refineries continued to source their crude oil from domestic supplies.

Refinery production down year over year despite continued recovery

The input of crude oil to Canadian refineries fell 4.0% year over year to 8.0 million cubic metres in November. Despite the decrease, this was the highest volume since March (8.5 million cubic metres). Capacity utilization in the petroleum and coal products industry—which includes refineries—was up 1.4% from October to November, a third straight monthly increase, as refining activity continued to recover. Nevertheless, net refinery production remained 2.9% below November 2019 levels. The decline was attributable to motor gasoline, including blending components and ethanol fuel (-4.2%) and diesel fuel oil (-3.9%), while net production of kerosene-type jet fuel was down by over one-third (-36.5%) year over year.

Demand for transportation fuels remained low in November as ongoing lockdowns continued to affect economic activity. Domestic consumption of motor gasoline fell 13.7% year over year, with many Canadians continuing to work from home and travel down sharply compared with November 2019. According to data on Travel between Canada and other countries, the number of return trips made by Canadians from the United States in November was down 92.3% year over year.

Domestic consumption of jet fuel fell 57.7% compared with the same month last year, with restrictions on non-essential air travel remaining in place in November. In contrast, domestic consumption of diesel fuel was up 7.8%, marking the first year-over-year monthly increase since March.

Chart 2 
Domestic consumption of refined petroleum products

Overall, sales of petroleum and coal products, which include refinery activity, rose 5.3% from October to November, the second consecutive monthly increase. The growth was mainly driven by higher prices for diesel fuel (+8.2%), jet fuel (+5.0%) and motor gasoline (+0.3%). However, sales in November were just over a quarter (-26.8%) lower compared with February, the last month unaffected by pandemic-related shutdowns and travel restrictions.

Natural gas production and demand down year over year

Production of marketable natural gas fell 3.6% year over year to 567.7 million gigajoules in November. This decline was due to lower production in Alberta (-3.7%) and British Columbia (-2.5%), the main natural gas producing provinces. Overall, natural gas production has been trending downward since March, in the wake of pandemic-related shutdowns and reduced economic activity.

Following a 3.7% increase in October, deliveries of natural gas to Canadian consumers fell 5.4% to 393.6 million gigajoules in November. The decline was driven by lower year-over-year demand from residential (-12.3%) and commercial and institutional (-10.0%) customers, as temperatures in November were higher on average compared with November 2019, according to data on heating degree days. Reduced commercial activity also contributed to lower deliveries of natural gas in November.

Compared with November 2019, deliveries to the industrial sector were down 2.3% to 265.1 million gigajoules in November, as lockdown measures remained in place in most provinces. Nevertheless, this was the highest level since March, mostly due to increased deliveries to the industrial sector in Alberta (+2.3%), with oil sands activity resuming following maintenance shutdowns at some facilities.

Chart 3 
Canadian monthly natural gas deliveries to industrial consumers

Exports of natural gas by pipeline to the United States fell 5.2% to 233.3 million gigajoules in November. Average monthly exports in the first 11 months of the year were 9.3% lower compared with the same period in 2019. Despite the year-over-year decrease, this was the highest monthly export level since March. Imports of natural gas declined 13.7%, mostly due to lower volumes imported to Ontario.

Electricity generation and consumption decline on lower demand

Following a 2.1% increase in October, electricity generation fell 5.1% to 53.3 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in November, the largest year-over-year decrease since March 2018 (-5.2%). The decline was primarily due to hydro generation, which was down 7.2% year over year to 31.5 million MWh. By generation type, hydro was the single largest contributor to Canada's electricity mix, accounting for 59.1% of electricity production nationally in November.

Electricity generated from combustible fuels declined 7.6% to 10.4 million MWh, while nuclear generation decreased 6.1% to 7.2 million MWh, as refurbishment continued at the Darlington and Bruce Power nuclear plants in Ontario. Wind (+26.9%) and solar (+45.9%) were the only electricity generation types with increased production in November.

Electricity consumption decreased for the fifth consecutive month, down 4.2% year over year to 49.4 million MWh in November. The decrease was mainly due to lower demand in Quebec (-7.8%), Ontario (-4.0%), and British Columbia (-1.7%), on account of lower seasonal demand for heating and reduced economic activity.

Chart 4 
Electricity generation and consumption, year-over-year change

Electricity exports to the United States fell 12.5% year over year to 4.6 million MWh in November. Imports of electricity from the United States were up 3.3% to 0.8 million MWh. This was the first monthly year-over-year increase since February, led by higher demand for imported electricity in Manitoba and Ontario.

Production of coal down year over year

Coal production was down 6.5% year over year to 3.9 million tonnes in November, and coke production decreased 3.4% to 180.5 thousand tonnes.

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).