Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Notes

The levels of proved recoverable reserves adopted for the present Survey correspond with the 'Remaining Reserves as at 2005-12-31' reported by the Reserves Committee of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) in the CAPP Statistical Handbook (November 2006). Reserves comprise 828 million m³ of conventional crude oil, 196 million m³ of natural gas liquids (71 pentanes plus and 125 ethane/propane/butane), and 1 366 million m³ of oil sands and natural bitumen (973 'developed mining - upgraded and bitumen' and 393 'developed in-situ - bitumen').

Two provinces (Alberta and Saskatchewan) account for the bulk of western Canada's conventional crude oil reserves. The East Coast Offshore reserves hold 273 million m³ of crude oil. Most of the NGL reserves are located in Alberta.

Based on assessments by the National Energy Board (NEB), further quantities of crude oil, up to 794 million m³ and 244 million m³ of NGLs, are considered to be potentially recoverable. For northern Canada, probabilistic estimates of recoverable crude oil were made by the NEB. At the mean probability, 173 million m³ of crude oil is expected to be recoverable. Apart from the Norman Wells field in the Northwest Territories, there are no other crude oil developments.

The quantities of oil sands/bitumen included in Canada's proved reserves quoted above correspond with 'remaining established reserves' of 'developed non-conventional oil' at end-2005 published by CAPP in its Statistical Handbook and included by the Reserves Committee of CAPP in its 2005 Report.

'Established reserves' are defined by CAPP as 'those reserves recoverable under current technology and present and anticipated economic conditions, specifically proved by drilling, testing or production, plus that judgement portion of contiguous recoverable reserves that are interpreted to exist, from geological, geophysical or similar information, with reasonable certainty'. 'Developed synthetic crude oil and bitumen reserves' are defined by CAPP as 'those recoverable from developed experimental/demonstration and commercial projects'.

While there is no consensus as to the precise level to include, it is standard practice to include Canadian oil sands/bitumen in compilations of proved oil reserves. The approach adopted for the present Survey reflects the practice of the CAPP Reserves Committee and is also broadly similar to that used by BP in its Statistical Review of World Energy, 2006 and by World Oil in its annual compilation of Estimated Proven World Reserves. BP states that it includes 'an official estimate of Canadian oil sands under active development', whilst World Oil describes its data for Canada as comprising 'reserves that are recoverable with current technology and under present economic conditions'. These descriptions accord closely with the WEC definition of proved recoverable reserves.

In 2005, output of conventional crude was 217 000 m³/d, that of NGLs 102 000 m³/d and production from oil sands 158 000 m³/d. Conventional light crude oil has been declining in production for a number of years and conventional heavy crude oil is expected to show a production decline after 2007.

Canada is the world leader in the production of oil from deposits of oil sands. The estimated ultimately recoverable resource from this 'newly conventional' supply is 55 billion cubic metres, second only to Saudi Arabia - see the chapter on Natural Bitumen.