Lower demand during the pandemic and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia led Alberta oil producers to cut their output. With global demand creeping back up (at least prior to the current rise in COVID-19 cases) and WTI prices hovering around the $40 mark, production levels in Alberta have been on the rise.

After falling by 20.9 per cent (765,333 barrels per day) between February and May, Alberta’s monthly oil production in October was 8.7 per cent (318,966 barrels per day) below the pre-pandemic level set in February.

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, just over 993 million barrels of oil (including condensate) were produced over the first 10 months of 2020. This is 6.6 per cent below the almost 1.1 billion barrels produced over the same period last year.

Conventional production (including condensate but excluding oil sands) accounted for about 15 per cent of total output over the first 10 months of 2020.

As of October, conventional production was 15.9 per cent (93,955 barrels per day) below its February level while oil sands output was down by about 7.3 per cent (225,011 barrels per day).

With vaccines potentially putting an end to the pandemic later next year and ongoing demand for Alberta oil on the part of U.S. refineries, Alberta’s oil production should make its way back to where it was before things went awry last spring. Despite this, it remains to be seen how long this will take and when new growth, rather than just catching up to where we were, will begin again.

ANSWER to yesterday's trivia question: When was the last time West Texas Intermediate closed above $50? February 24, 2020.

Today’s question: Which country has the largest reserves of oil?