Crude oil and natural gas: Supply and disposition, December 2015
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Released: 2016-03-09
Canada produced 20.2 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in December, up 3.5% compared with the same month in 2014.
Chart 1
Production of crude oil and equivalent products
Production of non-conventional crude rises
The increase in the production of crude oil and equivalent products was led by crude bitumen, up 18.2% to 7.6 million cubic metres and, to a lesser extent, by synthetic crude oil, which rose 2.5% to 5.0 million cubic metres.
Partially offsetting these gains were declines in light and medium crude oil, down 13.5% to 4.2 million cubic metres, and heavy crude oil, down 9.9% to 2.0 million cubic metres.
Chart 2
Production of crude oil and equivalent products by type of product
Exports are up
Exports of crude oil and equivalent totalled 15.7 million cubic metres in December, up 9.6% from the same month in 2014. Meanwhile, imports to Canadian refineries decreased by 15.4% to 2.2 million cubic metres. Partially contributing to lower imports was the completion of a pipeline reversal project, which led to higher deliveries of domestic crude oil in Ontario and Quebec.
Chart 3
Exports and imports of crude oil and equivalent products
Inventories increase
Inventories of crude oil and equivalent products were up 4.2% to 20.4 million cubic metres in December compared with the same month a year earlier. Closing inventories from transporters (pipeline companies) increased 6.3% to 17.9 million cubic metres, while closing inventories from fields and plants declined 8.5% to 2.5 million cubic metres.
Chart 4
Inventories of crude oil and equivalent products
Marketable natural gas decreases
Canadian natural gas utilities received 13.7 billion cubic metres of total marketable gas in December, down 1.4% from the same month in 2014. At the same time, exports of natural gas by pipelines to the United States from Canada decreased 11.7% to 6.5 billion cubic metres. Imports were down 21.9% to 1.7 billion cubic metres.
Additional information on natural gas is available in The Daily release "Natural gas transportation and distribution," published February 22, 2016.
Year 2015 annual review
Non-conventional crude bolsters production and exports
In 2015, production of crude oil and equivalent products increased 2.8% from 2014 to 224.1 million cubic metres. This is roughly equal to filling almost 700 supertankers or very large crude carriers.
The share of crude bitumen and synthetic crude oil in total production increased from 57.6% in 2014 to 61.4% in 2015. Light, medium, and heavy crude oil represented 32.7% of total production, down from 37.3% in 2014.
Since 2011, production of crude oil and equivalent products has increased 27.8%, largely driven by the production of crude bitumen, which grew by 83.0% over the same period.
Chart 5
Production and exports of crude oil and equivalent products
Both exports and imports of crude oil increased in 2015. Exports were up 6.3% to 175.9 million cubic metres, while imports rose 4.5% to 32.9 million cubic metres. Almost four-fifths (78.5%) of Canadian production was exported in 2015, up from under three-quarters (73.4%) in 2011.
Marketable natural gas increases
Canadian natural gas utilities received 149.1 billion cubic metres of total marketable gas in 2015, up 1.3% from 2014. During the same period, exports of natural gas to the United States from Canada rose 0.4% to 78.3 billion cubic metres, while imports were down 10.3% to 19.6 billion cubic metres.
Note to readers
Data are subject to revision.
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 and survey data reported by respondents.
Import data include only imports of crude oil to refineries.
Total marketable gas includes gas received from fields and processing or reprocessing plants after re-injection, field uses, processing plant and reprocessing plant shrinkage, plant use and losses have been deducted.
The Crude Oil and Natural Gas survey uses respondent data as well as administrative data provided by federal, provincial and territorial authorities responsible for the regulation of crude oil and natural gas production within their respective jurisdictions.
Contact information
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