Energy statistics, August 2026

Released: 2026-10-30

Primary energy production increased by 4.7% year over year to 2.1 million gigajoules in August, with five of the six subsectors posting gains.

Chart 1 
Year-over-year contribution to change in primary energy production

Production of finished petroleum products climbs to record high in August

Production of finished petroleum products increased 1.3% year over year to reach 10.5 million cubic metres in August, the highest level recorded since this series began in January 2019.

Although Canadian refineries operated at high capacity, distillate fuel inventories in August were 10.1% below the five-year average for the month. Distillate fuel supplies have become tight amid heightened international demand. Canadian exports of distillate fuel oil (mostly diesel) rose sharply by 34.4% year over year to 1.1 million cubic metres.

Chart 2 
Production of finished petroleum products

Crude oil production up

Production of crude oil and equivalent products rose 2.3% to 27.4 million cubic metres in August. This was the 15th consecutive monthly year-over-year increase and the highest production level for the month of August since this series began in 2016.

Oil sands extraction was the largest contributor to the overall increase, up 1.4% to 17.9 million cubic metres in August. Production of crude bitumen rose 2.6% to 11.2 million cubic metres, while production of synthetic crude oil edged down 0.4% as some upgrader maintenance activities were underway at the end of the month.

Oil extraction (except oil sands) also contributed to the year-over-year gain, rising 3.2% to 6.6 million cubic metres in August. The top three provinces producing light, medium and heavy crude oil all contributed to the increase, led by Alberta (+3.1%) and followed by Saskatchewan (+3.8%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (+4.4%).

Chart 3 
Canadian production of crude oil and equivalent products for the month of August, 2016 to 2026

Production, consumption and exports of natural gas climb in August

Production of marketable natural gas grew 7.6% to 729.4 million gigajoules in August. The increase was driven by higher demand for natural gas from both domestic consumers and overseas markets.

Deliveries to Canadian consumers were up 5.4% to 379.7 million gigajoules in August, largely resulting from growth in demand from the industrial sector in Ontario (+16.3%), where natural gas-fired electricity generation compensated for a decline in nuclear generation.

Meanwhile, exports of natural gas increased 3.6% to 303.4 million gigajoules in August. Exports of liquified natural gas (LNG) to countries other than the United States more than doubled (+102.4% to 41.5 million gigajoules) compared with August 2025, when Canada's first LNG export terminal was still ramping up. Meanwhile, natural gas exports to the United States fell 3.9% to 261.9 million gigajoules in August 2026, the eighth consecutive monthly year-over-year decline.

Chart 4 
Canadian exports of natural gas

Generation and exports of electricity climb in August

Total electricity generation increased 8.5% year over year to 51.6 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in August as hydroelectric (+15.0%), combustible fuel (+7.0%) and wind (+1.0%) generation all rose.

Manitoba's hydroelectricity generation increased markedly by 144.5% year over year in August, coinciding with improved drought conditions compared with August 2025. British Columbia (+16.5%) and Quebec (+6.0%) also posted gains in hydroelectricity generation in August 2026.

The overall growth in combustible generation in August was due to a 28.0% year-over-year increase in Ontario, where combustibles (mostly natural gas) compensated for an 8.5% decline in nuclear generation as two reactor units went offline for maintenance.

Imports of electricity from the United States, Canada's only electricity trade partner, fell 52.1% year over year to 1.2 million MWh in August, while exports more than doubled (+103.4%) to 5.2 million MWh. This was largely due to a 471.1% year-over-year increase in exports from Manitoba in August, where drought conditions improved compared with the same month last year.

Chart 5 
Manitoba hydroelectricity generation, electricity imports and electricity exports

Contact information

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