Natural gas transportation and distribution, December 2015
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Released: 2016-02-22
13.7 billion cubic metres
December 2015
-1.4% 
(12-month change)
$1.8 billion
December 2015
-12.8%
(12-month change)
6.5 billion cubic metres
December 2015
-11.7%
(12-month change)
1.7 billion cubic metres
December 2015
-21.9%
(12-month change)
Natural gas utilities received 13.7 billion cubic metres of total marketable gas in December, down 1.4% from the same month in 2014.
Chart 1
Marketable natural gas
Gas utilities sold 9.4 billion cubic metres of natural gas in December, down 0.8%. Revenues decreased 12.8% to $1.8 billion, mostly as a result of low natural gas prices.
The volumes of sales to the residential (-3.4%) and commercial sectors (-5.5%) were down compared with the same month a year earlier, while the volume of sales to the industrial sector was up 2.1%.
In December, total receipts of marketable gas were down 1.9% to 9.9 billion cubic metres in Alberta. All other provinces reported decreases except British Columbia, where receipts were up 3.2% to 3.4 billion cubic metres.
Revenues continue downward trend
Most provinces reported lower revenues in December, largely attributable to low natural gas prices. Revenues decreased 10.9% to $755.7 million in Ontario and were down 17.1% to $393.1 million in Alberta.
In terms of volume, Ontario recorded the largest decline in natural gas sales in December, down 9.3% from December 2014 to 2.7 billion cubic metres. Conversely, Alberta posted the largest increase in volumes, with sales up 7.4% to 4.2 billion cubic metres.
Imports decrease
Canada's imports of natural gas by pipelines from the United States decreased 21.9% to 1.7 billion cubic metres in December.
Exports of natural gas to the United States declined 11.7% to 6.5 billion cubic metres.
Chart 2
Natural gas exports and imports
Year 2015 annual review
In 2015, Canadian natural gas utilities received 149.0 billion cubic metres of marketable natural gas, up 1.3% from 2014. Natural gas sales increased 0.9% to 88.9 billion cubic metres, while revenues were down 16.0% to $17.3 billion.
Chart 3
Annual natural gas revenue
Imports of natural gas from the United States decreased 10.3% to 19.6 billion cubic metres, while exports edged up 0.4% to 78.3 billion cubic metres.
Note to readers
Data for November 2015 have been revised.
Import and export data are a combination of National Energy Board and survey data.
Marketable gas data reported for British Columbia also include data for Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
Total marketable gas includes gas received from fields and processing or reprocessing plants, after re-injection, field uses, plant shrinkage, plant use and losses have been deducted.
Contact information
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