Industry Facts
- Canada has about 179 billion barrels of established crude oil reserves. Worldwide, only Saudi Arabia has more oil reserves than Canada.
- Canada currently produces more than 2.5 million barrels of crude oil and exports about 1.4 million barrels every day.
- Oil sands production, which now exceeds one million barrels per day, is forecast to reach 3.5 million barrels per day by 2015 and 4.0 million barrels per day by 2020.
- Canada is the world's third largest producer of natural gas, behind Russia and the U.S. Canada currently produces more than 17 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas and exports about 10 billion cubic feet per day.
- Oil and gas supply and demand are linked together in Canada by more than 700,000 kilometres of pipelines - enough to circle the earth 17 times at the equator. Most of Canada's pipelines are underground.
- The first oil well in North America was drilled in 1858 in southern Ontario.
- There are 365,000 people working directly or indirectly in the Canadian petroleum industry.
- In 2006, more than 23,000 wells were drilled in Canada, the highest number on record.
- More Industry and Career Facts
For more industry information, please visit:
- Canadian Centre for Energy Information
Provides information on all aspects of the Canadian energy industry. - Energy Resources Conservation Board
Regulates the safe, responsible and efficient development of Alberta's energy resources: oil, natural gas, oil sands, coal, and pipelines. - CAPP Statistical Handbook
Historical summary of the petroleum industry's progress. - Canadian Technology in the Oil & Gas Industry
Provides information on Canadian expertise in exploration and development, production and processing, transportation and downstream, research programs, environment, health and safety, stewardship, and education and training.
These provincial websites provide additional oil and gas information:
