Canada leads field in crude, products exports to U.S.

It was a year of highs for Canada’s petroleum industry in 2004 as it set a new benchmark for crude oil and equivalent production and a record high for exports of crude and petroleum products to the United States.

Statistics Canada, a federal government agency, reported that oil volumes rose 3.2 percent to an average 2.57 million barrels per day, despite setbacks in December at the Shell Canada-led and Suncor Energy oil sands operations and offshore Newfoundland’s Terra Nova field.

But the increase in production marked six straight years of growth, led by Alberta’s 6.5 percent rise to 1.74 million bpd, followed by a 1.3 percent increase in Saskatchewan to 423,317 bpd and Newfoundland’s 313,871 bpd, a drop of 6.6 percent from 2003.

Crude exports to the United States jumped almost 4 percent to 1.59 million bpd, putting Canada second behind Mexico for the year.

Canada’s conventional and oil sands output supplied 15.8 percent of U.S. imports of crude oil and equivalent, which topped 10 million bpd.

With petroleum products factored in, Canada sent 1.96 million bpd south of the 49th parallel, easily beating out Saudi Arabia at 1.55 million bpd, Venezuela at 1.52 million bpd and Mexico at 1.43 million bpd.

Production of natural gas posted a small gain of 2 percent, recovering from a 2003 decline, lifted by gains in Alberta and Saskatchewan. British Columbia was unchanged from 2003.

—Gary Park