Oil sands trim Canada’s oil production

Operational hitches at oil sands mines were responsible for a 2.4 percent drop in Canada’s oil production last year to 2.51 million barrels per day — the first annual decline since 1999, a federal government agency reported.

But gas volumes were up 1.5 percent to almost 6 trillion cubic feet or 16.41 billion cubic feet per day, due entirely to higher output in Alberta.

Alberta production hit bottom in April at 1.53 million bpd and climbed back by 400,000 bpd to peak in December at 1.92 million bpd.

Despite the overall drop, crude oil exports from Canada rose again to a record 1.64 million bpd, 20,000 bpd ahead of 2004.

For December, total Canadian production was 2.79 million bpd, of which 1.9 million bpd or 68 percent was exported.

—Gary Park