Oil and Gas

On this page:

• Production
• Trade and Transportation

Production

Crude Oil

• Quebec does not have any commercial crude oil production.

Refined Petroleum Products (RPPs)

• Two large refineries currently operate in Quebec with a combined capacity of 402 thousand barrels per day (Mb/d):
  1. Montreal Refinery (Suncor) in Montreal, with a capacity of 137 Mb/d and,
  2. Jean Gaulin Refinery (Valero) in Lévis, near Quebec City, with a capacity of 265 Mb/d.
  Quebec and Ontario, each accounting for approximately 21% of total Canadian refining capacity, share the second-largest refining capacity in Canada, after Alberta.
• Supply for Quebec’s refineries prior to 2013 was a mix of crude oil from eastern Canada and offshore imports from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. After 2013, use of crude oil from western Canada and the United States (U.S.) began increasing because of higher crude-by-rail deliveries, changes to pipeline infrastructure (Enbridge’s Line 9B reversal in 2015),^Footnote 10 and higher production in the U.S.

Natural Gas/Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs)

• There is no natural gas production or field production of NGLs in Quebec.
• Small volumes of propane and butane are produced by oil refineries in Quebec.
• In 2018, the Quebec government placed a ban on hydraulic fracturing.

Renewable Natural Gas (RNG)

• The Government of Quebec developed a framework and environment to accelerate the production, distribution, and use of green hydrogen and bioenergy in 2022.^Footnote 11 The goal is to increase bioenergy production by 50% by 2030 and adopt a target of 10% renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030 in Quebec’s natural gas system.^Footnote 12
• The City of Saint-Hyacinthe’s biomethanation project became operational in 2018 and has an annual production capacity of approximately 13 million cubic meters of RNG per year.^Footnote 13
• A biomethanation plant, capable of producing 2.3 million cubic metres of RNG per year, was developed by the agricultural cooperative Coop Agri-Énergie Warwick. Construction of the facility began in spring 2020, and the plant began operating in winter 2021.
• The Centre de traitement de la biomasse de la Montérégie (CTBM) began operating in 2022 and produces 4.2 million cubic metres of biogas per year.^Footnote 14 After consumption on site, 2.1 million cubic metres is available for injection into the Énergir network, the local gas distribution company.
• The Centre de biométhanisation de l’agglomération de Québec (CBAQ) began operating in Quebec City in April 2023. It has the capacity to produce 10.2 million cubic metres of RNG per year.
• In May 2023, a new RNG production unit began operating at the Saint-Étienne-des-Grès landfill. It was built by the Canadian subsidiary of Waga Energy. It produces 12.4 million cubic metres of RNG per year for injection into the Énergir network.
• In 2019, the City of Montréal signed a contract with SUEZ (which was acquired by French transnational Veolia Group in 2022) to build a biomethanation plant in Montreal East with a capacity of roughly 4 million cubic metres of RNG.^Footnote 15

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Trade and Transportation

Crude Oil and Liquids

• Quebec receives crude oil by Enbridge’s Line 9, by tanker, and by rail (Figure 3). Quebec can also receive crude oil via the Portland-Montreal Pipeline, but throughputs on the pipeline have been very low since 2016.
• Line 9 has been delivering crude oil from Sarnia, Ontario, to Montreal, Quebec, since its reversal became operational in December 2015. The line has a capacity of 300 Mb/d and transports crude oil from western Canada and the U.S. Midwest.
• Quebec also receives crude oil via tankers on the St. Lawrence River arriving at Montreal and Lévis.
• There are three rail terminals in Quebec capable of receiving crude oil, including one at each of the refineries in Montreal and Lévis, and one in Sorel-Tracy. These facilities have a combined capacity to receive approximately 123 Mb/d of crude oil.^Footnote 16
• In 2023, deliveries of crude oil on the Portland-Montreal Pipeline averaged 6.2 Mb/d, or 3% of the pipeline’s capacity.
• Trans-Northern Pipeline delivered approximately 153 Mb/d of RPPs in 2023, including gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and heating fuel, from Montreal to markets in Ontario, and from the Nanticoke refinery in Ontario east to Toronto.
• Valero’s Saint-Laurent Pipeline has a capacity of 100 Mb/d and delivers RPPs from the Valero refinery in Lévis to a distribution terminal in east Montreal. It is regulated by the Régie du bâtiment du Québec.

Natural Gas

• The Trans Québec & Maritimes (TQM) pipeline connects to TC Energy’s Canadian Mainline near Saint Lazare, by the Ontario border. TQM transports natural gas to points within Quebec and exports natural gas to the U.S. At the international border in East Hereford, TQM connects to the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System. (Figure 4)
• Quebec must source natural gas from outside the province to meet its needs. Historically, western Canada supplied much of Quebec’s natural gas. Now, Quebec can also receive gas produced in the U.S. because of increased import capacity in Ontario.
• Énergir (formerly Gaz Métro) distributes gas to more than 300 municipalities on almost 10,000 kilometres (km) of pipelines.^Footnote 17 Enbridge Gazifère^Footnote 18 serves more than 43,500 customers in the Outaouais region and owns and operates 1,000 km of pipelines.^Footnote 19 Énergir and Gazifère are provincially regulated by Quebec’s Régie de l’énergie.
• Intragaz is an underground natural gas storage operator that operates the only two underground natural gas storage sites in Quebec – the Pointe-du-Lac site, which has a capacity of 1.3 billion cubic feet (Bcf) and the Saint-Flavien site, which has a capacity of 4.2 Bcf. Both sites are connected to the TQM pipeline.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

• Énergir has operated a liquefaction, storage, and regasification plant in Montreal East since 1971. Énergir tripled the plant’s capacity in 2017 to over nine Bcf of LNG to help meet growing demand for LNG by the road and marine transportation sectors, as well as for regions not connected to the natural gas grid.^Footnote 20
• In 2016, the National Energy Board approved a 25-year export licence [Filing A72342] for GNL Quebec for its proposed Énergie Saguenay LNG export facility. The project was scheduled to be operational in 2026 but was rejected by the province of Quebec in 2021 because of financial and environmental concerns. The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) also denied the project in 2022 citing adverse environmental effects.^Footnote 21

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Energy Use

Total Energy Consumption

• In 2020, end-use demand in Quebec was 1,728 petajoules (PJ). Industrial demand was the largest sector for energy demand at 41%, followed by transportation at 24%, residential at 22%, and commercial at 13% (Figure 5). Quebec’s total energy demand was the third largest in Canada, and the eighth largest per capita of the provinces.
• Electricity was the main energy consumed in Quebec, accounting for 707 PJ, or 41% of total end-use demand. RPPs and natural gas accounted for 599 PJ (35%) and 235 PJ (14%), respectively (Figure 6).

Refined Petroleum Products (RPPs)

• Quebec’s motor gasoline demand in 2022 was 988 litres per capita, 4% below the national average of 1,035 litres per capita.
• Quebec’s diesel demand in 2022 was 554 litres per capita, 28% below the national average of 772 litres per capita.
• Most of the gasoline consumed in Quebec is refined in the province. However, some gasoline is imported from the U.S. East Coast and Europe or is transferred from the Maritimes.

Natural Gas

• In 2023, Quebec consumed an average of 590 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. This was 5% of total Canadian demand.
• Quebec’s industrial sector was the largest consuming sector for natural gas at 385 MMcf/d in 2023. The commercial and residential sectors consumed 150 MMcf/d and 56 MMcf/d, respectively.

Electricity

• In 2020, annual electricity consumption per capita in Quebec was 22.9 megawatt-hours (MWh). Quebec had Canada’s highest per capita electricity consumption and consumed 57% more than the national average. This is largely due to the presence of some industries, such as aluminum smelters that rely on large amounts of low-cost electricity, as well as most residents in Quebec who use electricity for space heating.
• Quebec’s largest consuming sector for electricity in 2020 was industrial at 87 TWh. The residential and commercial sectors consumed 71 TWh and 38 TWh, respectively.

GHG Emissions

• Quebec’s GHG emissions in 2022 were 79.1 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MT CO₂e).^Footnote 22 Quebec’s emissions have declined 6% since 1990 and 8% since 2005.
• In 2022, Quebec’s emissions per capita were the lowest in Canada at 9.1 tonnes CO₂e. This is 50% below the Canadian average of 18.2 tonnes per capita.
• The largest emitting sectors in Quebec are transportation at 39% of emissions, industries and manufacturing at 28%, and buildings (residential and commercial) at 12% (Figure 7).
• Quebec’s GHG emissions from the oil and gas sector in 2022 were 2.3 MT CO₂e. Of this total, 0.1 MT were attributable to transmission and 2.2 MT were attributable to petroleum refining and natural gas distribution.
• Virtually all electricity produced in Quebec comes from renewable sources. In 2022, Quebec’s power sector generated 0.3 MT CO₂e emissions, which represents 0.6% of Canada’s GHG emissions from power generation.
• The greenhouse gas intensity of Quebec’s electricity grid, measured as the GHGs emitted in the generation of the province’s electric power, was 1.2 grams of CO₂e per kilowatt-hour (g CO₂e/kWh) in 2022. This is a 68% reduction from the province’s 2005 level of 3.8 g CO₂e/kWh. The national average in 2022 was 100 g CO₂e/kWh (Figure 8).