Activity on this program started: March 20, 2020
March 2020
As of reference month January 2020, the Monthly Oil and Other Liquid Petroleum Products Survey (MOPS) has been redesigned, including the expansion of the survey coverage, new content, new questionnaire, etc.
January 2020 saw the launch of the new Monthly Energy Transportation and Storage Survey (METSS) program which replaces MOPS. Two new tables have been added to replace Table 25-10-0056-01 – Canadian pipeline transport of oil and other liquid petroleum products, monthly:
- Table 25-10-0075-01 – Crude oil and petroleum products inventories, held by domestic transporters, by product type, monthly; and
- Table 25-10-0077-01 – Crude oil and petroleum products movements, by mode of transport and by product type, monthly
Content has changed to reflect the evolving petroleum industry. In addition to pipeline companies, rail and marine transportation companies are now in sample as well as an expanded product list. These data will be available in the future. The conceptual changes regarding the transition from MOPS to METSS includes a new methodology for estimates. METSS coverage was expanded to include pipeline-associated terminals that were not previously captured in the MOPS and therefore data users can expect estimates to generally be higher. As a result of these changes, the METSS estimates may not be comparable with the estimates available in the MOPS tables published prior to January 2020. Net variables such as deliveries to refineries and receipts from fields and plants have been removed. Data is now structured as gross receipts and deliveries.
Reporting for MOPS used a 'net receipt and delivery' methodology whereas the current METSS uses a 'gross receipt and delivery' methodology. The 'net receipt and delivery' concept for MOPS did not include (netted-out) the intermediary transactions to create final estimates whereas the 'gross receipt and delivery methodology' for METSS includes all intermediary receipts and delivery transactions to calculate final estimates. With the gross receipt methodology being used, pipeline receipt and delivery estimates will generally be higher.
For METSS, the province where the transaction originated is the 'shipping region' and the final destination of the product is included in the table as 'receiving region'. MOPS recorded transactions based on the final destination of the product (province of clearance). METSS currently reports transactions based on an origin-destination approach, meaning that there are two sides to each transaction, both of which are reported.
An example of how estimates will change under the new methodology: from a METSS perspective, crude oil loaded in Alberta, crossing Saskatchewan and ultimately crossing the Canada-US border from Manitoba would be counted as an export from Alberta into the US. From a MOPS province of clearance perspective, this same scenario would result in the export figure being attributed to Manitoba since the crude oil crossed (cleared) the Canada-US border from Manitoba, despite the crude oil being loaded in Alberta.
This change in methodology between MOPS and METSS is the result of further leveraging a key administrative (Petrinex) dataset which allows for the collection of approximately 70% of pipelines in sample while significantly reducing respondent burden. The METSS program also allows for the Monthly Refined Petroleum Products Survey program to more accurately track inter-provincial movements of crude oil, petroleum products and renewable fuels across the country.