Statistics Canada : Natural gas transmission, storage and distribution, November 2016

Released: 2017-01-23

Natural gas opening inventories

952.7 million gigajoules

November 2016

Natural gas closing inventories

944.4 million gigajoules

November 2016

Exports to the United States

242.8 million gigajoules

November 2016

Natural gas transmission pipelines received 516.3 million gigajoules of natural gas from fields, gathering systems and plants in November. Seven provinces posted receipts, led by Alberta (71.2%) and British Columbia (25.8%).

Natural gas transmission and distribution systems delivered 182.8 million gigajoules to industrial consumers, 52.2 million gigajoules to residential consumers, and 46.5 million gigajoules to commercial and institutional consumers.

Provincial deliveries

In Alberta, deliveries of natural gas totalled 141.5 million gigajoules in November. The industrial sector received 82.1% of these deliveries, which accounted for 41.3% of the natural gas consumed in Canada.

In Ontario, 72.0 million gigajoules of natural gas were delivered to consumers. The industrial sector received 43.5% of these deliveries, the residential sector 32.3%, and the commercial and institutional sector 24.2%.

Opening and closing inventories

Opening inventories of natural gas stored in Canadian facilities totalled 952.7 million gigajoules. Inventories decreased 0.9% in November to close at 944.4 million gigajoules. This was the second consecutive month of net withdrawals from storage.

Closing inventories in Western Canada decreased 1.0% to 607.7 million gigajoules, while closing inventories in Central Canada decreased 0.7% to 336.7 million gigajoules.

Exports and imports

Canada exported 242.8 million gigajoules of natural gas by pipeline to the United States in November. Imports of natural gas from the United States totalled 74.0 million gigajoules.

Note to readers

In January 2016, changes were made to the Monthly Natural Gas Transmission Survey and the Monthly Natural Gas Distribution Survey. In addition, the Monthly Natural Gas Storage Survey was introduced to provide measures on gas storage characteristics related to inventories and flows.

Storage data are now published in CANSIM table 129-0005, transmission data in CANSIM table 129-0006, and distribution data in CANSIM table 129-0007. CANSIM tables 129-0001, 129-0002, 129-0003 and 129-0004 will remain available for reference purposes.

Definitions

Data on natural gas no longer correspond to marketable natural gas but represent natural gas from fields, gas-gathering systems and gas plants.

Natural gas deliveries (termed 'sales' in releases prior to January 2016) include deliveries to industrial, commercial and institutional, and residential consumers.

Opening inventories correspond to inventories as of the first day of the reference month, while closing inventories correspond to inventories as of the last day of the reference month. For example, the reference period for the opening inventory in January was January 1, while the reference period for the closing inventory was January 31.

Pipeline fuel is used to power compressors to move gas through pipelines.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; [e-mail]) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; [e-mail]).