Statistics Canada : Supply and disposition of refined petroleum products, October 2016

Released: 2017-01-13

Refinery production

7.9 million cubic metres

October 2016

-5.6%

(12-month change)

Refinery receipts decrease

Canadian refineries received 7.2 million cubic metres of crude oil in October, a decrease of 2.6% from the same month in 2015.

In October, refinery receipts of domestic crude oil decreased 2.0% compared with October 2015, to 5.1 million cubic metres.

Crude oil imports decreased 3.9% from October 2015, to 2.1 million cubic metres. Imports accounted for 29.7% of total crude oil received at refineries in Canada.

Crude oil inventories held at refineries totalled 4.0 million cubic metres in October, up 14.7% compared with the same month of the previous year.

Refineries continue to use more non-conventional crude

In October, total crude oil and equivalent products used in refinery production decreased 9.5% from the same month a year earlier to 6.8 million cubic metres.

Year over year, this is the 10th consecutive month where the refinery use of conventional crude oil decreased and non-conventional crude increased.

Conventional light crude oil used in refinery production was down 32.3% while conventional heavy crude oil was up 38.7% compared with October 2015. Both types of non-conventional crude oil increased in October: synthetic was up 28.2% and crude bitumen increased 6.9%.

Refinery production and sales down

Year over year, refinery production decreased 5.6% to 7.9 million cubic metres in October.

Diesel fuel sales fell 3.5% in October, largely contributing to a 1.8% decline in overall domestic sales of refined petroleum products for the month. Meanwhile, domestic sales of motor gasoline increased by 1.8% compared to the same month a year earlier.

Imports up and exports down

Canada imported 1.4 million cubic metres of refined petroleum products in October, up 13.3% from the same month in 2015.

Meanwhile, exports of refined petroleum products decreased 12.1% to 1.3 million cubic metres.

Inventories increase

Closing inventories of refined petroleum products held at refineries increased 3.4% year over year to 7.5 million cubic metres in October. On a year-over-year basis, this represented the fourth successive monthly increase in closing inventories.

Note to readers

The Monthly Refined Petroleum Products survey collects data on the activities of every Canadian refinery involved in the production of refined petroleum products (North American Industry Classification System [NAICS] 324000) and of selected major distributors of these products (NAICS 412000).

Domestic sales include all sales by reporting companies, excluding exports and sales to other reporting companies.

Refinery receipts of crude oil and equivalent hydrocarbons (condensates and pentanes plus) from domestic and foreign sources are for refinery consumption or storage.

Contact information

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