Oil and Gas

On this page:

• Production
• Trade and Transportation

Production

Crude Oil

• Yukon does not have any commercial crude oil production.
• Although eight sedimentary basins in onshore Yukon have been identified as having crude oil potential of up to 752 million barrels in-place, no significant amount of crude oil has ever been produced.^Footnote 8 Seventy-six wells have been drilled in Yukon from five of the eight basins. Most of these wells were drilled in the 1960s and 1970s. The most recent wells were drilled in the Eagle Plain Basin in 2012-2013.
• In December 2016, the federal government announced that Canadian Arctic offshore, including the federal waters offshore of Nunavut, is indefinitely off limits to new offshore oil and gas licensing, to be reviewed every five years through a climate and marine science-based life-cycle assessment.
• In 2019, the federal government issued an order, expiring at the end of 2021, prohibiting all oil and gas activities in the Canadian Arctic offshore, including activities associated with existing licenses.^Footnote 9 This order was most recently amended on 8 December 2023 to extend the expiry date to 31 December 2028.^Footnote 10
• In 2023, the “Report of the Western Arctic Review Committee” was issued. This report was a science-based assessment of the risks and benefits of Arctic offshore oil and gas exploration and development.
• In 2023, the Government of Yukon signed the Western Arctic – Tariuq (Offshore) Accord along with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Government of Northwest Territories, and Government of Canada. This accord ensures that northerners will share in the co-management of offshore oil and gas activity.

Refined Petroleum Products (RPPs)

• There are no refineries in Yukon.

Natural Gas/Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs)

• There is currently no natural gas or NGL production in Yukon.
• Small volumes of natural gas were produced in the Kotaneelee field in southeastern Yukon until 2012, when production was suspended for economic reasons.
• Yukon’s in-place resources of conventional natural gas are estimated to be 17 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). In-place resources of dry gas in Devonian shales of southeast Yukon are estimated to be 68 Tcf.

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Trade and Transportation

Crude Oil and Liquids

• Virtually all the refined petroleum products (RPPs) consumed in Yukon are produced in Alberta or B.C. Occasionally some small volumes are also imported from Alaska.
• There are no crude oil pipelines or crude-by-rail facilities in Yukon. Almost all RPPs are delivered to communities in Yukon by truck, except for deliveries to Old Crow. Old Crow, which has no road or ship access, can only receive fuels by airplane.^Footnote 11
• The Canol 1 Pipeline was built to carry crude oil from Norman Wells, NWT, to a refinery in Whitehorse during World War II. The pipeline was constructed by the United States (U.S.) Army and operated for less than two years before removal. Three other crude and products pipelines were constructed as part of the Canol project and connected Whitehorse to the Alaskan cities of Skagway and Fairbanks.

Natural Gas

• There are no natural gas pipelines in the Yukon.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

• Whitehorse receives LNG by truck from facilities in Fort Nelson, BC (Cryopeak Energy Solutions, previously Ferus Natural Gas Fuels and Campus Energy). The LNG is stored and used at Yukon Energy’s Whitehorse facility for electricity generation.
• There are no proposed large-scale LNG facilities in Yukon.

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Energy Use

Total Energy Consumption

• End-use demand in Yukon was 8.2 petajoules (PJ) in 2020. The largest sector for energy demand was transportation at 52% of total demand, followed by industrial at 25%, commercial at 12%, and residential at 11% (Figure 3). Yukon’s total energy demand was the second smallest in Canada and per capita energy demand was the fifth smallest in Canada.
• Mining is a significant driver of Yukon’s energy demand, and the opening and closing of mines can dramatically affect energy consumption.
• RPPs, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, were the largest fuel type consumed in Yukon, accounting for 6.4 PJ, or 78% of total end-use demand. Electricity and natural gas accounted for 1.6 PJ (20%) and 0.2 PJ (2%), respectively (Figure 4).
• Yukon’s 2020 strategy for climate change, energy, and a green economy includes a target for the replacement of residential fossil fuel heating systems with electric systems, and to support the installation of 20 commercial and institutional bioenergy heating systems by 2030.^Footnote 12

Refined Petroleum Products (RPPs)

• Yukon’s motor gasoline demand in 2022 was 1,761 litres per capita, 70% above the national average of 1,035 litres per capita.
• Yukon’s diesel demand in 2022 was 2,318 litres per capita, almost three times the national average of 772 litres per capita.
• Diesel makes up a majority of the RPPs consumed in the Yukon. A significant portion of this diesel demand is for power generation and heating in communities not connected to the electrical grid, and when hydroelectric generation is insufficient to meet power demands for those on the territorial grid.

Natural Gas

• Natural gas (stored as LNG) is used at Yukon Energy’s Whitehorse facility to generate electricity during peak winter demand or as backup for hydroelectric outages.

Electricity

• In 2020, annual electricity consumption per capita in Yukon was 10.6 MWh. Yukon ranked eighth in Canada for per capita electricity consumption and consumed 27% less than the national average.
• Yukon’s largest consuming sector for electricity in 2020 was residential at 0.20 TWh. The commercial and industrial sectors consumed 0.19 TWh and 0.06 TWh, respectively.

GHG Emissions

• Yukon’s GHG emissions in 2022 were 0.66 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MT CO₂e). Yukon’s emissions have increased 20% since 1990 and 18% since 2005.
• Yukon’s emissions per capita are 15.1 tonnes of CO₂e. That is 17% below the Canadian average of 18.2 tonnes per capita.
• The largest emitting sectors in Yukon are transportation at 57% of emissions, industry and manufacturing at 24%, and electricity and buildings at 6% (Figure 5).
• In 2022, Yukon’s power sector emitted 0.04 MT CO₂e emissions, which represents a very small fraction of Canada’s total GHG emissions from power generation.
• The greenhouse gas intensity of Yukon’s electricity grid, measured as the GHGs emitted in the generation of the territory’s electric power, was 70 grams of CO₂e per kWh (g CO₂e per kWh) electricity generated in 2022. This is a 9% decrease from the territory’s 2005 level of 64 g CO₂e per kWh. The national average in 2022 was 100 g CO₂e per kWh (Figure 6).