Alberta produced 18.3 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in November, down 3.2 per cent compared with the same month in 2018, said a report released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday.
This was the third monthly year-over-year decrease in four months, due primarily to a 4.5 per cent decline in oil sands extraction. Meanwhile, production of equivalent products rose 6.4, partially offsetting the province’s overall decline in crude oil production, said the federal agency.
“Alberta (79.2 per cent of total production), Saskatchewan (10.1 per cent) and Newfoundland and Labrador (7.0 per cent) accounted for the vast majority of Canadian production of crude oil and equivalent products in November. During the month, Newfoundland and Labrador production totalled 1.6 million cubic metres, the highest level since January 2009,” it said.
“Meanwhile, ongoing maintenance at some Alberta upgraders continued to limit the overall production of crude oil. In November, synthetic crude oil production was down 17.6 per cent to 4.9 million cubic metres, the second consecutive monthly year-over-year decrease.”
StatsCan said there were “modest” increases in November in the production of crude oil and equivalent products (+0.5 per cent), natural gas (+1.1 per cent) and electricity (+0.9 per cent) compared with the same month in 2018.
The federal agency also said coal production (-11.6 per cent) declined for the fifth consecutive month. Over the same period, exports of natural gas (+6.1 per cent) and electricity (+15.3 per cent) rose, while exports of crude oil and equivalent products (-5.2 per cent) declined.
“Following a decline in October, production of crude oil and equivalent products edged up 0.5 per cent year over year to 23.2 million cubic metres (145.6 million barrels) in November,” said the report.
“Light and medium crude oil production increased 15.8 per cent to 4.7 million cubic metres, the largest monthly year-over-year increase since June 2017. The gain was mainly attributable to higher output from Newfoundland and Labrador offshore facilities which returned to operation following recent maintenance work. Production of crude bitumen (+4.1 per cent to 9.4 million cubic metres), equivalent products (+5.7 per cent to 2.3 million cubic metres) and heavy crude oil (+0.9 per cent to 2.0 million cubic metres) were also up in November.”
The report said pipelines in Canada received 20.6 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products from fields and plants in November, down 6.0 per cent year over year. Lower crude production levels in Alberta, where the majority (86.5 per cent) of these receipts originated, contributed to the overall decline, it said.
Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.
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