Supply and disposition of refined petroleum products, November 2016
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Released: 2017-02-14
8.8 million cubic metres
November 2016
1.7% 
(12-month change)
Refinery receipts decrease
Canadian refineries received 7.8 million cubic metres of crude oil in November, down 4.9% from the same month in 2015.
Chart 1
Refinery receipts of crude oil and equivalent products
In November, refinery receipts of domestic crude oil decreased 7.9% compared with November 2015 to 5.1 million cubic metres.
Crude oil imports increased 1.2% compared with November 2015 to 2.8 million cubic metres, and represented 35.3% of total crude oil received at refineries in Canada.
Crude oil inventories held at refineries totalled 4.2 million cubic metres in November, up 0.2% compared with the same month the previous year.
Refineries continue to use more non-conventional crude oil
In November, the total volume of crude oil and equivalent products used in refinery production increased 1.0% from the same month a year earlier to 7.7 million cubic metres. Both types of non-conventional crude oil contributed to the monthly rise, with synthetic crude oil up 59.4% and crude bitumen up 24.9%.
Chart 2
Crude oil used in refinery production
Conventional light crude oil used in refinery production was down 18.9% from November 2015, while conventional heavy crude oil was up 1.9%. Year over year, this was the 11th consecutive month where refinery use of conventional crude oil decreased and that of non-conventional crude oil increased.
Refinery production and sales up
Year over year, refinery production increased 1.7% to 8.8 million cubic metres in November.
Chart 3
Domestic sales of refined petroleum products, by product
Domestic sales of refined petroleum products increased 2.9% to 8.6 million cubic metres in November. Sales of motor gasoline rose 4.8% compared with November 2015 and diesel sales were up 8.3%.
Imports down and exports up
Canada imported 1.1 million cubic metres of refined petroleum products in November, down 5.2% from the same month in 2015.
Over the same period, exports of refined petroleum products increased 22.3% to 1.8 million cubic metres.
Inventories decrease
Closing inventories of refined petroleum products held at refineries decreased 0.3% year over year to 7.5 million cubic metres in November.
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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