Natural gas transmission, storage and distribution, December 2016
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Released: 2017-02-23
Natural gas transmission pipelines received 551.4 million gigajoules of natural gas from fields, gathering systems and plants in December. Seven provinces posted receipts, led by Alberta (69.4%) and British Columbia (27.6%).
Natural gas transmission and distributions systems delivered 215.8 million gigajoules to industrial consumers, 92.6 million gigajoules to residential consumers and 75.2 million gigajoules to commercial and institutional consumers in December.
Provincial deliveries
In Alberta, December deliveries of natural gas amounted to 168.9 million gigajoules. The majority (76.6%) were delivered to the industrial sector. This accounted for 44.0% of the natural gas consumed in Canada.
In Ontario, 110.5 million gigajoules of natural gas were delivered in December. The industrial sector received 34.0% of these deliveries, the residential sector received 39.3% and commercial sector 26.7%.
Chart 1
Natural gas inventories
Opening and closing inventories
In December, opening inventories of natural gas in Canadian facilities totalled 944.4 million gigajoules. Inventories decreased 7.1% in December to close at 877.8 million gigajoules. This was the third consecutive month of net withdrawals from storage.
Closing inventories in Western Canada decreased 7.3% to 563.4 million gigajoules, while closing inventories in Central Canada decreased 6.6% to 314.5 million gigajoules.
Exports and imports
Canada exported 297.4 million gigajoules of natural gas by pipeline to the United States in December. Imports of natural gas from the United States totalled 106.7 million gigajoules.
2016 in review
Natural gas transmission pipelines received 6.2 billion gigajoules gas from fields, gathering systems and plants in 2016.
Total deliveries from natural gas transmission and distributions systems for 2016 amounted to 2.2 billion gigajoules to industrial consumers, 507.1 million gigajoules to commercial and institutional consumers and 606.6 million gigajoules to residential consumers. Residential and commercial deliveries are higher in the winter because consumers in these sectors primarily use natural gas as a heating fuel.
Chart 2
Canadian monthly natural gas distribution
In 2016, Canada exported 3.2 billion gigajoules to the United States. This amount accounted for approximately half of the natural gas received from fields, gathering systems and plants for the year. Imports of natural gas from the United States were 793.8 million gigajoules for the same period.
Chart 3
Imports and exports of natural gas
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; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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