Alberta’s oil output came in at 110 million barrels (3.6 million barrels per day) in January. Likely attributable to the cold snap, this stood 2.5% lower from December and 4.8% below last January.

The decline was led by oil sands production, which eased due to a 10.3 million barrels (-27%) contraction in upgraded bitumen. This was, however, tempered by a 7.7 million barrels (+13%) increase in raw bitumen, which pushed non-upgraded production to a record 66.3 million barrels in January.

Meanwhile, conventional output (including condensates) ticked down 1.2% and partially reversed the gain experienced in December.

In terms of disposition, sales to Alberta’s refineries took a breather in January, but this was more than offset by higher volumes exported to other provinces and the U.S.

Answer to the previous trivia question: Alberta is named after Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta

Today’s trivia question: How many barrels of crude oil per day can Enbridge’s Mainline pipeline transport?