In February, electricity generation (+5.5 per cent), natural gas production (+one per cent) and crude oil production (+0.1 per cent) increased in Canada, while coal production (-11.1 per cent) declined compared with the same month in 2018, according to data released on Monday by Statistics Canada.
The federal agency said exports of crude oil and equivalent products increased, while exports of natural gas and electricity decreased.
“In February, production of crude oil and equivalent products edged up 0.1 per cent to 20.2 million cubic metres (127.2 million barrels) compared with the same month a year earlier. February was the second consecutive month in which temporary cuts imposed by the Alberta government continued to affect overall production. During the month, Canadian crude oil production (excluding equivalent products) decreased 0.4 per cent year over year,” it said.
“Production of crude bitumen declined for the second consecutive month, down 3.6 per cent to 7.6 million cubic metres compared with the same month a year earlier, while heavy crude oil production was also down. The decreases were offset by growth in synthetic crude oil (+3.9 per cent), light and medium crude oil (+0.8 per cent) and equivalent products (+5.4 per cent).”
StatsCan said Alberta produced 16.3 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in February, edging down 0.1 per cent from the same month a year earlier. The province accounted for 80.7 per cent of total Canadian production.
“In February, the government of Alberta eased production limits which were put in place in January. As a result, the average daily production of crude oil and equivalents increased slightly in February (583.1 thousand cubic metres) from January 2019 (580.5 thousand cubic metres). Saskatchewan (11 per cent of total production) and Newfoundland and Labrador (5.7 per cent) were also key producing provinces in February,” added StatsCan.
“Pipelines in Canada received 17.6 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products from fields and plants in February, down 14.2 per cent compared with the same month in 2018. The vast majority of these receipts (85.4 per cent) originated in Alberta. Over the same period, pipelines delivered 7.1 million cubic metres of crude oil to Canadian refineries, edging up 0.1 per cent. Almost two-thirds (64.6 per cent) of the total volume were delivered to refineries in the western provinces.”
– Mario Toneguzzi for Calgary’s Business
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