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Energy is produced in British Columbia from natural gas, crude oil, hydropower, biomass and coal.
BC's energy industry contributes between 6.5 and seven per cent of total government revenue through royalties, license fees and taxes, and accounts for about 4.7 per cent of BC's GDP.
While most of the natural gas and virtually all of the coal produced in BC are exported, the province imports most of its petroleum products and, in some years, is a net importer of electricity.
More than 20,000 people, about one per cent of BC's population, are employed in the oil and gas and utilities industries.
In February 2007, British Columbia announced a new energy plan designed to make the province energy self-sufficient. The plan also precludes the use of nuclear power in the province to generate electricity.
Discover the key energy facts about British Columbia.
By the numbers (572KB PDF)
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Crude Oil
The first oilfields in British Columbia were developed near Fort St. John in the early 1950s. More than 30 oilfields have been developed since.
At year-end 2007, crude oil reserves totalled 107.8 million barrels. Currently, about 1,100 operating wells produce an average of 26,360 barrels per day.
In 2007, the province received $1.7 billion from the petroleum industry for the use of the British Columbia’s oil and gas resources.
Although 14 exploratory wells were drilled offshore in the late 1960s, moratoria imposed in 1972 halted further offshore activity.
However, part of the BC Government’s 2007 Energy Plan includes “ensuring offshore oil and gas resources are developed in a scientifically sound and environmentally responsible way.”
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Natural Gas
British Columbia is Canada’s second largest producer of natural gas.
The British Columbia natural gas industry began in the early 1950s near Fort St. John in the northeast region of the province. Unlike other petroleum producing provinces, natural gas has become more economically important than crude oil.
Natural gas reserves totalled 13.3 trillion cubic feet at the end of 2007. By the end of 2007, gross production averaged 3.1 billion cubic feet per day with major contributions from the Ladyfern, Greater Sierra, Monkman and Horn River fields.
Deliveries of marketable gas averaged 2.7 billion cubic feet per day. There are approximately 6,600 producing gas wells in the province.
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Natural Gas Pipelines
Spectra Energy operates a 5,700 kilometre natural gas gathering and transmission system extending from northeast British Columbia to Huntington/Sumas on the BC-US border. The system’s capacity is 2.2 billion cubic feet per day.
TransCanada’s gas transmission system extends 201 kilometres from Alberta’s western border to Kingsgate on the BC-US border. Capacity is approximately one billion cubic feet per day
Crude Oil Pipelines
Pembina Pipeline Income Fund’s gathering system upstream of Taylor, BC delivers almost 30,000 barrels per day to the Prince George refinery and to Kamloops for transmission to the west coast.
Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline transports crude oil and refined products from Edmonton, Alberta to marketing terminals and refineries on the west coast.
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Refineries & Upgraders
There are two refineries in British Columbia.
Husky Energy’s Prince George refinery was built in 1967 and has been operated by Husky since 1976.
Current capacity is 12,000 barrels per day of light oil from northeast BC, which is refined into unleaded gasoline, seasonal diesel fuels, mixed propane and butane, and heavy fuel oil for BC markets. The refinery employs 85 people.
Chevron’s Burnaby refinery was built in 1935 and daily processes crude and synthetic oils, condensate and butanes from northeast BC and Alberta into 50,000 to 55,000 barrels of motor gasoline, diesel and jet fuels, asphalts, heating fuels, heavy fuel oils, butanes and propane.
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Hydroelectricity
British Columbia generates the majority of its electricity from hydro power.
The province has 71 hydro electric generating stations – two on the Peace River, three near the northwest coast, 23 in the Columbia/Kootenay area, 26 on the Lower Mainland and 13 on Vancouver Island.
The largest is the 2,730-megawatt G. M. Shrum generating station on the Peace River. Total installed capacity for the province is about 11,700 megawatts. Net generation in 2007 totalled 69,369,582 megawatts, or enough to supply 6.9 million homes.
BC Hydro is conduction public and stakeholder consultation regarding possible construction of a third dam and generation facilities on the Peace River.
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Coal
There is an estimated 20 billion tonnes of coal resource in British Columbia, of which 700 million are currently under development.
There are nine active mines in three coal-producing areas – the Fording River, Greenhills, Line Creek, Elkview and Coal Mountain mines in the East Kootenay Coalfield; the Bullmoose and Willow Creek mines in the Peace River Coalfield; and the Quinsam mine in the Comox Coalfield on Vancouver Island.
Production in 2007 totalled 28 million tonnes, most of which was exported to Japan, Korea, Europe and South America.
These three coalfields, along with 10 others may contain up to 230 trillion cubic feet of coalbed methane.
