This article was published by the National Energy Board on May 29, 2019.
In 2018, Canada exported 275 thousand barrels per day (Mb/d) of crude oil by marine vessel, or 8 per cent of total crude oil exports. Most crude oil exported from Canada occurs via pipeline. In 2018 this averaged 3.09 million barrels per day or 86 per cent of total crude exports.
Approximately 80 per cent of the crude oil exported by marine vessel is shipped from Canada’s eastern offshore production areas. This crude oil comes from drilling platforms offshore of Newfoundland and loaded directly onto marine tankers.
Around one fifth of the crude oil exported by marine tanker is shipped off Canada’s west coast. This crude oil is produced in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and transported either by rail or on the Trans Mountain Pipeline to the Westridge loading dock in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Description: This bar graph shows quarterly crude oil exports by marine tanker off the east and west coasts of Canada from 2013 to the end of 2018. Crude oil exports by marine tanker off the west coast were highest in the first quarter of 2013, at 98.5 Mb/d. West coast exports decreased until 2016, and have since increased to reach 80.5 Mb/d in the fourth quarter of 2018. East coast exports increased from 188 Mb/d in the first quarter of 2013 to a peak of 341.3 Mb/d in the second quarter of 2017, and have since decreased to 275.8 Mb/d in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Shipping crude oil by marine tanker allows Canadian crude oil to reach many different global markets. In 2018, Canadian crude oil was exported to 22 different countries in Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
Description: This pie chart shows the destinations of crude oil exports from Canada by marine tanker in 2018. 37% of crude oil exports by marine tanker went to Europe, 31% went to the U.S. East Coast, 11% to the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii, and Alaska; 11% to the U.S. Gulf Coast, 8% to Asia, and 2% to the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Crude oil export volumes by marine tanker are generally confidential on a monthly basis. The data may also be confidential at the country-level due to the small number of companies shipping to specific destinations. For this reason, the data has been aggregated to larger geographic regions.
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