Today’s Owl is part two of a series on Alberta’s exports in 2020.

The annual value of Alberta’s international merchandise exports fell by 22.0 per cent last year or $25.8 billion. A decline in oil and gas sector* exports accounted for 94.8 per cent of the total drop.

Total oil and gas sector exports were $84.5 billion in 2019 but a combination of lower prices and lower volume in 2020 brought this down to $60.0 billion for a drop of 29.0 per cent.

When oil and gas sector exports are excluded, the contraction in 2020 was 4.1 per cent ($1.3 billion).

Oil and gas exports started the year strong with year-over-year sales up by 40.0 per cent in January and by 17.8 per cent in February. The slide began in March and peaked in May when exports were down by 83.5 per cent ($6.1 billion) compared to 12 months earlier.

Although oil and gas exports were up by the end of 2020 compared to where they were mid-year, they were still off by 22.1 per cent ($1.6 billion) in December compared to 12 months earlier.

*Includes NAICS codes 211 (oil and gas extraction), 213111 (oil and gas contract drilling), 213118 (Services to oil and gas extraction) and 32411 (petroleum refineries).

Answer to the previous trivia question: Alberta’s largest export to China in 2020 was canola (seeds, oil and cake).

Today’s trivia question: What portion of Canada’s total international merchandise exports in 2020 were from Alberta?