Oil production in Alberta averaged nearly 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, a record high for the month.

Relative to last May, this was up by 119 thousand bpd (+3.6%) and was also 76 thousand bpd (+2.2%) higher than the previous peak for the month seen in 2019.

Over the first five months this year, total production stood at 547 million barrels, over 16 million barrels (+3.0%) higher from 2021 levels.

Conventional (including condensates) production has been rising steadily this year and was responsible for the majority (56%) of the total year-to-date increase in Alberta’s oil production while oil sands output grew 1.6% during the same timeframe.    

In terms of disposition, volumes exported to both internal and external destinations remained upbeat through May.

Despite holding at elevated levels, activity is expected to slow on a monthly basis as planned maintenance of refineries ramp up in the province’s oil patch.

Answer to the previous trivia question: John Forbes Nash Jr. won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994 and was played by Russell Crowe in the film “A Beautiful Mind.”

Today’s trivia question: Who invented the diesel engine?