Canada Is the United States’ Largest Energy Trade Partner
In 2015 and 2016, the value of U.S. energy imports from Canada and the value of U.S. energy exports to Canada both fell, reflecting declining prices of key com- modities such as crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas. For 2016, the value of U.S. energy imports from Canada was $53 billion, while the value of U.S. energy exports to Canada was $14 billion.
Crude oil makes up most U.S. energy imports from Canada, averaging 3.3 MMbbld in 2016. Canada is by far the largest source of U.S. crude oil imports, providing 41% of total imports last year. Sales of Canadian crude oil to the U.S. reached more than $83 billion in 2014. As oil prices fell in 2015 and 2016, the value of U.S. crude oil imports from Canada fell from $47 billion in 2015 to $36 billion in 2016, despite increasing in volume. Canada’s crude oil exports to the U.S., which are produced in Alberta and are shipped primarily to the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions, consist mainly of heavy grades.
Until 2013, virtually all U.S. crude oil exports went to Canada. However, as the U.S. has exported more crude oil to other countries, Canada has made up a smaller share of U.S. crude oil exports. In 2016, an average of 301,000 bbld of U.S. crude was exported and 219,000 bbld to all other countries. U.S. crude oil exports to Canada are typically light, sweet grades that are shipped to the eastern part of the country.
Bilateral petroleum products trade with Canada is relatively balanced in both volumetric and value terms. Canada was the destination for 564,000 bbld of petro- leum products in 2016, or 12% of all petroleum products exported from the U.S. These exports were valued at more than $8.2 billion. However, the mix of petroleum product flows between the U.S. and Canada varies by product and region. For example, the U.S. is a net importer of gasoline from Canada, with significant volumes owing from refineries in eastern Canada to serve markets in the northeast U.S.
Conversely, few of the petroleum products exported from the U.S. to Canada are finished transportation fuels. Pentanes plus, liquefied petroleum gases, and other oils make up the majority of U.S. product exports to Canada. Some of these products are used as a diluent to enable pipeline movement of heavy crude oils produced in Canada. On balance, the U.S. is a net exporter in its bilateral petroleum product trade with Canada, and U.S. petroleum product exports to Canada, and other destinations, have been gradually increasing over the past decade.
Bilateral natural gas trade between Canada and the U.S. is dominated by pipeline shipments. Natural gas imports from Canada averaged 8.0 Bcfd in 2016, or 97% of all U.S. natural gas imports. Total natural gas imports were valued at more than $5.9 billion in 2016. Most of Canada’s natural gas exports to the U.S. originate in western Canada and are shipped to U.S. markets in the West, Midwest, and Northeast. Increases in natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica plays have made the U.S. less dependent on western Canadian natural gas imports in northeastern markets.
U.S. natural gas exports to Canada, which averaged 1.9 Bcfd in 2015 and 2.1 Bcfd in 2016, mainly go from Michigan and New York into eastern provinces. Increases in pipeline capacity to carry natural gas out of the Marcellus and Utica shale formations may enable increased flows of U.S. gas into Canada over the next several years.
Finally, electricity makes up a small but important share of bilateral trade. In 2015 and 2016, the value of U.S. imports of electricity from Canada averaged $2.2 billion, down slightly from an average of $2.4 billion from 2006 to 2014. In 2016, the U.S. imported 73 million megawatt hours of electricity from Canada, while exporting 9.3 million megawatt hours, based on data from Canada’s National Energy Board. U.S. electricity trade with Canada is increasing, and although the amount of electricity imported over the Canadian border is a small part of the overall U.S. power supply, the transmission connections linking Canada and the U.S. are an important component of electricity markets on both sides of the border, where they also support electric system reliability, notes EIA.
(SOURCE: The Weekly Propane Newsletter. For more information contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
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