Long established as an oil-producing region, Western Canada has also become a major producer of refined products. With enough oil available to serve the nine refineries in the region, there is no need to import crude oil, making Western Canada one of the few parts of the world where the refineries are completely self-sufficient regarding oil supply. The region is also noteworthy in that, like the U.S. Gulf Coast, its refining capacity and gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel output is vastly greater than its own demand, resulting in a large surplus of refined fuels that can be sent across Canada and exported to the U.S. Today, we look westward, focusing on the nine refineries located in the Canadian West.
Canadian crude output is rising, requiring new export routes. As traditional pathways face constraints, the U.S. Rockies—especially the Guernsey, WY hub—are emerging as key corridors for moving Canadian heavy crude to downstream markets, including the Gulf Coast.
Although the presence of crude oil in Western Canada had been known to First Nations inhabitants for centuries, oil production did not really pick up momentum and scale until just after the end of World War II. The celebrated Leduc No. 1 oil discovery in 1947 near Leduc, AB — just south of the provincial capital of Edmonton — kicked off the modern oil industry across Western Canada, resulting in a steadily growing supply of crude oil to its own refineries, those in other Canadian provinces, and the U.S. That growing production has allowed all 17 of Canada’s refineries, which we summarized in Part 1, to partly or fully wean themselves off imported crude oil. In 2020, Canada’s crude oil imports averaged 435 Mb/d, down from 800 Mb/d 10 years earlier, with most of the imported crude now being sourced from the U.S. With crude runs to Canadian refineries averaging 1.59 MMb/d in 2020, the roughly 1.15-MMb/d difference between those runs and imports (1.59 – 0.435) is largely supplied by Western Canada.
From 19 micro-sized refineries with a combined capacity of just 68 Mb/d in the late1940s, the refining sector in Western Canada has undergone decades of expansion and eventual consolidation to reach the final tally of nine refineries (green numbered diamonds in Figure 1) with a total capacity of 770 Mb/d as of 2020. Of that, the combined capacity of the refineries in Alberta (#1 to #5) is 546 Mb/d, while those in Saskatchewan (#6 and #7) total 147 Mb/d and British Columbia’s (#8 and #9) refining capacity adds up to 67 Mb/d. Note that Alberta’s and Western Canada’s total refinery capacity are slightly higher than we stated in Part 1 due to a subsequent year-end disclosure by one of the refiners — more about this in a moment.
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About the song
"I Want You to Want Me" was written by Rick Nielsen and appeared originally as the fourth song on side one of Cheap Trick's second album, In Color. Released as the first single from the album in September 1977, it failed to chart in the U.S. However, when the song was released as a single in Japan, it went to #1 there, and paved the way for CBS to release the live album Cheap Trick at Budokan in 1979 in the states. When the live version of the song from that album was released as a single in April 1979, it went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and has been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Personnel on the record were: Robin Zander (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick Nielsen (lead guitar, backing vocals), Tom Petersson (bass, backing vocals), and Bun E. Carlos (drums).
Cheap Trick at Budokan was recorded live in Japan in April 1978; the album was produced by Cheap Trick. Released in the U.S. in February 1979, the LP went to #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. It has been certified 3X Platinum by the RIAA. Two singles were released from the album.
Cheap Trick are an American rock band formed in Rockford, IL, in 1973. Eight members have passed through the band since its inception, with Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen being in the fold from the start. The band has released 19 studio albums, six live albums, 17 compilation albums, four EPs, and 64 singles. Cheap Trick has sold more than 20 million records worldwide and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. The band continues to record and tour, with a North American tour scheduled to begin in late April.
