Market Snapshot: Ontario Refineries Shift from Foreign to Domestic Supply since 2000


Release date: 2015-09-09

Ontario refineries have changed the source of their oil supply in the last fourteen years. In 2000, 54 per cent of the crude oil came from domestic sources while the other 46 per cent was imported. By 2014, the refineries received nearly all of their crude oil from western Canada.

Ontario Refineries Crude Oil Receipts (b/d) for years 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2014

Figure Source and Description

Source: Statistics Canada

Description: These pie charts illustrate Ontario refinery receipts of crude oil for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2014. The portion made up by imports gradually declined from 46 per cent in 2000 to less than one per cent in 2014. Eastern Canadian crude increased to 14 per cent as a supply source in 2005, up from four per cent in 2000, then declined to three per cent in 2010 and close to zero in 2014. After accounting for under 50 per cent in 2000 and 2005, supply from western Canada grew rapidly to 79 per cent in 2010 and 99 per cent in 2014.

*Includes minor volumes from a number of foreign sources.

Between 2005 and 2010, Enbridge expanded its pipeline system so that it could move more crude oil from western Canada to U.S. and Ontario markets. By 2010, western Canadian crude accounted for 79 per cent of refinery supply.

In 2013, Enbridge completed its Line 9A reversal between Sarnia and Westover, Ontario. This and other expansions in the Enbridge pipeline system brought even more western Canadian crude oil to Ontario and U.S. markets. By 2014, almost all of the crude oil for Ontario’s refineries came from western Canada.

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