Updated May 2022
Alberta has over 28 000 oil facilities and over 19 000 gas plants and gas facilities.
In 2021, this included
- 8 operating oil sands mines,
- 25 thermal in situ oil sands operations,
- 5 active bitumen upgraders,
- 5 refineries,
- 3 coal processing plants, and
- 9 producing coal mines.
Oil Sands Facilities
Mine Projects
Table S8.9 shows the companies and project names of the eight operating oil sands mines in Alberta. Learn more in the crude bitumen section.
In Situ Schemes
Table S8.10 provides the companies and project names of in situ operations in Alberta.
Upgraders
Table S8.11 lists the average upgraded bitumen production in Alberta in 2021 by company.
Oil Refineries
There are 17 refineries in Canada, and 5 are in Alberta. These refineries have a combined refining capacity of 0.30 million cubic metres per day (106 m3/d) or 1.9 million barrels per day (106 bbl/d). As of September 2021, the U.S. combined refining capacity in is over 2.9 106 m3/d (18.4 106 bbl/d). The U.S. has the highest number of complex refineries in the world, meaning they are capable of processing heavy sour crudes.
Alberta's oil reaches markets in Ontario and Quebec through Enbridge Inc.'s Mainline system. Western producers are limited to using rail to reach refineries in the Atlantic provinces, which is disadvantageous because rail is more expensive, and our oil must compete with international imports shipped from overseas.
In 2021, Alberta's refineries had an estimated total combined throughput of 81.9 thousand (103) m3/d (515.4 103 bbl/d). Together, these refineries processed
- 52.4 103 m3/d (329.7 103 bbl/d) of upgraded bitumen,
- 10.8 103 m3/d (67.9 103 bbl/d) of nonupgraded bitumen,
- 17.9 103 m3/d (112.7 103 bbl/d) of crude oil, and
- 0.9 103 m3/d (5.7 103 bbl/d) of pentanes plus.
Table S8.12 lists the 2021 throughput for Alberta's refineries.
Alberta's refinery utilization was 95 per cent in 2021. The refinery utilization indicates how efficiently the refining complex is operating, so the higher the utilization rate, the higher the production of refined products.
Natural Gas and Natural Gas Liquids Processing Plants
Alberta has
- about 500 active gas processing plants,
- 12 fractionation plants (separating out a mix of natural gas liquids [NGLs] into its different components), and
- 6 straddle plants.
Figure S8.6 shows the development of Alberta's NGLs from the gas pools to field plants then to fractionation or straddle plants and finally to the markets.
LNG Canada's Export Facility
LNG Canada began construction on its terminal in Kitimat, B.C., in 2019 to export liquified natural gas (LNG) overseas. The expected start date is 2025.
This will be the first terminal in western Canada to export LNG overseas and will enhance Alberta's ability to access international markets. The first phase is expected to export up to 14 million tonnes per year (about 1.8 billion cubic feet per day), while the proposed second phase will double export capacity to a total of 28 million tonnes per year (about 3.7 billion cubic feet per day).
Fractionation and Straddle Plants
Table S8.13 list the fractionation in Alberta and Table S8.14 the straddle plants.
Learn More
- Data [XLSX]
- By Topic > Liability Management