Canada ships 60% of crude to U.S.

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

With the United States now relying on foreign sources for nearly two-thirds of its crude oil needs, Canada is supplying 15.8 percent of the imports, trailing only Saudi Arabia and Mexico, but jumped to top spot as a combined source of petroleum products.

Energy Information Agency data put Canadian crude shipments at 1.53 million barrels per day to the end of October, with October’s volumes at almost 1.7 million bpd. Once petroleum products were rolled in, Canada claimed top spot for the 10 months at 2.04 million bpd, with Saudi Arabia topping the crude and equivalent list at 1.76 million bpd, but dropping to second at 1.82 million bpd when products were included. Mexico ranked second in crude oil exports at 1.57 million bpd and third overall at 1.62 million bpd when petroleum products were added.

Canada’s surge from 1.44 million bpd of crude to the end of October 2002 was the result of rapidly increased production of heavy crude, higher oil sands output and the addition of the Terra Nova field to Hibernia for offshore Newfoundland.

About 60 percent of Canada’s total crude oil and equivalent volumes are ending up in the United States, matching the percentage of natural gas that goes south of the 49th parallel. Data from Canada’s National Energy Board for the first nine months of 2003 showed light crude exports were up 2 percent from the same period of 2002 to 550,400 bpd, while heavy crude exports rose 8 percent to 958,600 bpd.

Heavy and synthetic crude production in Alberta increased by 4 percent over the first three quarters to 1.61 million bpd, putting the province ahead of any U.S. state, but short of the U.S. federal offshore PAD District 111 (Gulf of Mexico), which averaged 1.65 million bpd for the first eight months.