Supply and disposition of refined petroleum products, September 2016
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Released: 2016-12-14
8.6 million cubic metres
September 2016
0.6% 
(12-month change)
Refinery receipts decrease
Canadian refineries received 7.1 million cubic metres of crude oil in September, down 3.1% from the same month in 2015.
Chart 1
Refinery receipts of crude oil and equivalent products
Refinery receipts of domestic crude oil rose 1.2% compared with September 2015 to 4.8 million cubic metres.
Crude oil imports decreased 11.1% from September 2015 to 2.3 million cubic metres. Imports represented 32.0% of total crude oil received at refineries in Canada.
Crude oil inventories held at refineries totalled 3.6 million cubic metres in September, up 1.3% compared with the same month the previous year.
Refineries continue to use more non-conventional crude
In September, total crude oil and equivalent products used in refinery production decreased 1.9% from the same month a year earlier to 7.3 million cubic metres.
Chart 2
Crude oil used in refinery production
Year over year, this was the ninth consecutive month where the refinery use of conventional crude oil decreased and non-conventional crude increased.
Conventional light crude oil used in refinery production was down 23.7% compared with September 2015, while conventional heavy crude oil was up 22.5%. Both types of non-conventional crude oil increased over the same period, with synthetic up 56.9% and crude bitumen rising 72.7%.
Refinery production and sales up
Year over year, refinery production increased 0.6% to 8.6 million cubic metres in September.
Chart 3
Domestic sales of refined petroleum products, by product
Domestic sales of refined petroleum products increased 3.8% to 9.1 million cubic metres. Motor gasoline rose by 5.4% compared with September 2015 and diesel increased 2.6%.
Imports up and exports down
Canada imported 1.4 million cubic metres of refined petroleum products in September, up 0.4% from the same month in 2015.
Exports of refined petroleum products decreased 9.5% to 1.8 million cubic metres in September.
Inventories increase
Closing inventories of refined petroleum products held at refineries increased 3.9% year over year to 7.6 million cubic metres in September.
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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