At the end of July, propane stocks in Western Canada were above normal, while propane stocks in Eastern Canada continue to be well below normal and similar to this time last year, according to data published by the Canadian Energy Regulator on August 18. Butane stocks in both regions were not far off typical levels for this time of year.
Propane stocks in Western Canada (left chart below) were at 6.8 MMbbl, 9% above the five-year seasonal average, while propane stocks in Eastern Canada (right chart below) were 2.6 MMbbl, similar to last year at this time, and 36% below the five-year average. Propane production in Alberta year-to-date through June was up 14.5 Mb/d or 6% year-over-year, according to data from the Alberta Energy Regulator.
Western Canada butane stocks (left chart below) were at 4.7 MMbbl, 6% above the five-year seasonal average, while Eastern Canada butane stocks (right chart below) were at 2.9 MMbbl, 5% below the seasonal average. Western Canada stocks at the end of July have migrated closer to seasonal norms, after being above prior five-year highs from March through June, coinciding with the outage at Keyera's Alberta Enviro Fuels plant that converts butane to iso-octane, which went down in January and re-started in June.
