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Natural gas transmission, storage and distribution, December 2017

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Released: 2018-02-23

Natural gas transmission pipelines received 588.9 million gigajoules of natural gas from fields, gathering systems and plants in December. Seven provinces posted receipts, with Alberta (70.0%) and British Columbia (27.9%) holding the vast majority.

Natural gas transmission and distribution systems delivered 257.5 million gigajoules to industrial consumers, 95.5 million gigajoules to residential consumers and 71.7 million gigajoules to commercial and institutional consumers in December.

Provincial deliveries

In Alberta, December deliveries of natural gas totalled 187.7 million gigajoules. The majority (79.8%) were delivered to the industrial sector. Alberta industrial deliveries accounted for 35.3% of the natural gas consumed in Canada.

In Ontario, 115.0 million gigajoules of natural gas were delivered in December. The residential sector received 40.6% of these deliveries, followed by the industrial (33.3%) and commercial (26.1%) sectors.

Inventories

Closing inventories of natural gas in Canadian facilities totalled 934.8 million gigajoules in December, a decrease of 10.5% from the beginning of the month resulting in a net withdrawal.

Inventories of natural gas in Western Canada decreased 6.3% to 662.5 million gigajoules, while closing inventories in Central Canada were down 19.4% to 272.3 million gigajoules.

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

Exports and imports

Canada exported 292.1 million gigajoules of natural gas by pipeline to the United States in December. Imports of natural gas from the United States totalled 58.9 million gigajoules.

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

2017 in review

Natural gas transmission pipelines received 6.5 billion gigajoules from fields, gathering systems and plants in 2017, up 4.9% from 2016.

Total deliveries from natural gas transmission and distribution systems for 2017 amounted to 2.5 billion gigajoules to industrial consumers, 654.5 million gigajoules to residential consumers, and 542.4 million gigajoules to commercial and institutional consumers. Residential and commercial deliveries are higher in the winter because consumers in these sectors use natural gas primarily as a heating fuel.

In 2017, Canada exported 3.3 billion gigajoules of natural gas to the United States. This amount accounted for approximately half of the natural gas received from fields, gathering systems and plants for the year. Imports of natural gas from the United States were 938.4 million gigajoules for the same period.

Chart 3  Chart 3: Canadian monthly natural gas deliveries
Canadian monthly natural gas deliveries

  Note to readers

Data for November 2017 have been revised.

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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