Supply and disposition of refined petroleum products, March 2016
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Released: 2016-06-14
9.6 million cubic metres
March 2016
1.6% 
(12-month change)
Refinery receipts increase
Canadian refineries received 8.8 million cubic metres of crude oil in March, an increase of 4.3% from the same month the previous year.
Over the same period, refinery receipts of domestic crude oil rose 9.9% to 6.1 million cubic metres.
Crude oil imports fell 6.5% to 2.7 million cubic metres in March, representing 30.7% of total crude oil received at refineries in Canada.
Chart 1
Refinery receipts of crude oil and equivalent products
Crude oil held at refineries rose 15.2% to 4.1 million cubic metres compared with the same month the previous year.
Production increases, sales fall
Refinery production increased 1.6% to 9.6 million cubic metres in March, while domestic sales of refined petroleum products fell 1.6% to 8.4 million cubic metres compared with the same month the previous year.
Imports and exports down
Canada imported 0.8 million cubic metres of refined petroleum products in March, a 23.5% decrease compared with the same month in 2015.
Exports of refined petroleum products were down 24.6% to 2.3 million cubic metres in March, the fifth consecutive year-over-year decline. This decrease was mainly attributable to lower exports of motor gasoline, down 32.9%.
Inventories decrease
Closing inventories of refined petroleum products held at refineries in March decreased 5.7% from the same month the previous year to 8.1 million cubic metres. The decline was primarily due to lower inventories of diesel (-10.4%), motor gasoline (-5.8%) and heavy fuel oil (-31.4%).
Chart 2
Closing inventory of refined petroleum products
Note to readers
The Monthly Refined Petroleum Products survey collects data on the activities of every Canadian refinery involved in the production of refined petroleum products (North American Industry Classification System [NAICS] 324000) and of selected major distributors of these products (NAICS 412000).
Domestic sales include all sales by reporting companies, excluding exports and sales to other reporting companies.
Refinery receipts of crude oil and equivalent hydrocarbons (condensates and pentanes plus) from domestic and foreign sources are for refinery consumption or storage.
Contact information
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