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Natural gas transmission, storage and distribution, August 2017

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Released: 2017-10-23

Natural gas transmission pipelines received 533.6 million gigajoules of natural gas from fields, gathering systems and plants in August, unchanged compared with the same month in 2016. Six provinces posted receipts, with Alberta (73.8%) and British Columbia (24.0%) holding the majority.

Natural gas transmission and distribution systems delivered 200.8 million gigajoules to industrial, 16.2 million gigajoules to commercial and institutional and 14.3 million gigajoules to residential consumers in August.

Provincial deliveries

In Alberta, deliveries of natural gas amounted to 136.9 million gigajoules in August. The majority (95.3%) were delivered to the industrial sector. Alberta industrial deliveries accounted for 56.4% of the natural gas consumed in Canada.

In Ontario, 39.9 million gigajoules of natural gas were delivered. The industrial sector received 63.0% of these deliveries, followed by the residential (18.7%) and commercial (18.3%) sectors.

Inventories

Opening inventories of natural gas in Canadian facilities totalled 917.2 million gigajoules in August. Over the month, inventories rose 6.9% to close at 980.9 million gigajoules. Storage facilities tend to build inventories during the summer, in preparation for the colder months ahead.

Inventories of natural gas in Western Canada rose 4.5% to close the month at 689.2 million gigajoules, while inventories in Central Canada increased 13.2% to close at 291.7 million gigajoules.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Canadian monthly natural gas inventories
Canadian monthly natural gas inventories

Exports and imports

Canada exported 270.3 million gigajoules of natural gas by pipeline to the United States in August, down 2.8% from the same month in 2016. Meanwhile, imports of natural gas from the United States totalled 51.0 million gigajoules, down 13.1% from August 2016.

Chart 2  Chart 2: Canadian imports and exports of natural gas
Canadian imports and exports of natural gas

  Note to readers

In January 2016, changes were made to the Monthly Natural Gas Transmission Survey and the Monthly Natural Gas Distribution Survey. In addition, the Monthly Natural Gas Storage Survey was introduced to provide measures on gas storage characteristics related to inventories and flows.

Storage data are now published in CANSIM table 129-0005, transmission data in CANSIM table 129-0006 and distribution data in CANSIM table 129-0007. CANSIM tables 129-0001, 129-0002, 129-0003 and 129-0004 will remain available for historical reference.

Definitions

Data on natural gas no longer correspond to marketable natural gas but represent natural gas from fields, gas-gathering systems and gas plants.

Natural gas deliveries (termed "sales" in releases prior to January 2016) include deliveries to industrial, commercial and institutional, and residential consumers.

Opening inventories correspond to inventories as of the first day of the reference month, while closing inventories correspond to inventories as of the last day of the reference month. For example, the reference period for the opening inventory in January was January 1, while the reference period for the closing inventory was January 31.

Pipeline fuel is used to power compressors to move gas through pipelines.

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).

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