Canadian oil, gas sales to U.S. pump up last year’s output

Gary Park

New natural gas plays in northeastern British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and offshore Nova Scotia propelled Canada’s marketable gas production to its 15th straight year of growth, a federal government agency reported.

Higher output of heavier and synthetic crudes allowed production of crude oil and equivalents hydrocarbons to extend a recovery since low world prices and a drilling downturn in 1999, said Statistics Canada.

Gas production climbed 2 percent from 2000 to 6.08 trillion cubic feet, led by a 7.5 percent surge in exports to the United States of 3.86 trillion cubic feet.

British Columbia’s Ladyfern play contributed to a 2.1 percent rise in gas output.

But the economic slowdown and warmer-than-usual weather conditions contributed to a 6.8 percent drop in domestic gas consumption to 2.37 trillion cubic feet, including some export volumes that re-entered Canada via the Alliance pipeline and interconnects to Ontario.

Oil and equivalent output totaled 808.89 million barrels, up 0.6 percent from 2000’s 803.55 million barrels.

The driving forces behind the increase were bitumen and heavy oil in Alberta and Saskatchewan, with an 8.9 percent gain in synthetic crude, and increases of 2.1 percent in Saskatchewan and 2.8 percent in Newfoundland’s offshore — all offsetting the decline from light crude fields in Western Canada.

For December alone, synthetic production soared 34.1 percent from a year earlier following the start-up of Suncor Energy Inc.’s Project Millennium in northern Alberta.

Exports to the United States claimed 62.1 percent of total production, despite a dip of 0.7 percent to 501.88 million barrels. Imports to Eastern Canada, mostly from the Middle East, rose 0.9 percent to 336.6 million barrels.