Statistics Canada : Crude oil and natural gas: Supply and disposition, October 2015

Released: 2016-01-13

Production of crude oil and equivalent products

18.6 million cubic metres

October 2015

-3.0%

(12-month change)

Exports of crude oil and equivalent products

14.5 million cubic metres

October 2015

6.2%

(12-month change)

Canada produced 18.6 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in October, down 3.0% from the same month the year before.

Production of crude oil declines

The decrease in the production of crude oil and equivalent products in October was led by light and medium crude oil, down 20.1% from the same month in 2014 to 3.6 million cubic metres, followed by synthetic crude oil, down 9.9% to 4.3 million cubic metres, and heavy crude oil, down 9.6% to 2.1 million cubic metres.

These declines were partially offset by a 13.5% gain in crude bitumen production to 7.5 million cubic metres.

Exports are up

Exports of crude oil and equivalent products totalled 14.5 million cubic metres in October, up 6.2% from the same month in 2014. At the same time, imports of crude oil and equivalent products to refineries edged down 0.2% to 2.2 million cubic metres.

Inventories rise

Inventories of crude oil and equivalent products were up 1.7% to 20.0 million cubic metres in October compared with the same month the year before. Closing inventories from transporters (pipeline companies) increased 2.2% to 17.3 million cubic metres, and closing inventories from fields and plants declined 1.2% to 2.7 million cubic metres.

Marketable natural gas increases

Canadian natural gas utilities received 12.4 billion cubic metres of total marketable natural gas in October, up 2.7% from the same month in 2014. At the same time, exports of natural gas by pipeline to the United States from Canada rose 2.5% to 6.4 billion cubic metres, and imports of natural gas were considerably higher, up 47.4% to 1.6 billion cubic metres.

Additional information on natural gas is available in The Daily release, 'Natural gas transportation and distribution,' published on December 15, 2015.

Note to readers

Data are subject to revision.

Crude oil and equivalent products include heavy, light and medium crude oil, synthetic crude oil, crude bitumen, condensate and pentanes plus.

Export data are a combination of National Energy Board and survey data reported by respondents.

Import data include only imports of crude oil to refineries.

Total marketable gas includes gas received from fields and processing or reprocessing plants after re-injection, field uses, processing plant and reprocessing plant shrinkage, plant use and losses have been deducted.

The Crude Oil and Natural Gas survey uses respondent data as well as administrative data provided by federal, provincial and territorial authorities responsible for the regulation of crude oil and natural gas production within their respective jurisdictions.

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; [e-mail]) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; [e-mail]).