U.S. claims two-thirds of Canada’s oil and gas output

Canada posted record crude oil and equivalent output in 2007 and logged a marginal decline in natural gas production, with almost two-thirds of the total volumes ending up in the United States.

Crude rose 4.2 percent from 2006 to a record 1.01 billion barrels, or 2.77 million barrels per day and gas declined 2.1 percent to 5.92 trillion cubic feet or 16.2 billion cubic feet per day.

Of those totals, 65.9 percent or 1.82 million bpd and 65 percent or 10.5 bcf per day of gas were shipped into the U.S.

Statistics Canada, a federal agency, said Canada also imported an average 85,233 bpd of crude, 48.4 percent from OPEC members, including 20.7 percent from Algeria, 8.7 percent from Saudi Arabia and 7.4 percent from Iraq. Other major contributors were Norway at 22.4 percent and the United Kingdom at 16.2 percent. The crude imports are destined for Quebec refineries.

Of the domestic crude and equivalent production, Alberta’s bitumen volumes were up 8 percent and synthetic crude gained 3.7 percent, while Newfoundland climbed 21.3 percent after the Terra Nova field regained capacity following mechanical and maintenance shutdowns.

—Gary Park