AI Analysis: Supply and disposition of natural gas, monthly (data in thousands)

Executive Summary

Statistics Canada's Table 25100055 provides 10 years of monthly natural gas supply and disposition data (2016–2025) across 12 Canadian regions and 12 supply/disposition categories, totalling 20,160 records and 186 unique data series. The dataset is heavily right-skewed — driven by massive inventory and production figures reaching up to 31 million thousand cubic metres — while Alberta and British Columbia dominate production-side volumes. Seasonal storage cycles, export flows to the United States, and the interplay between gross withdrawals and marketable production emerge as the defining structural patterns in Canada's natural gas system.

Key Findings

• The dataset spans 120 months (January 2016 – December 2025) with 20,160 records across 186 unique data series, covering 12 geographic areas from national totals down to individual provinces and territories.
• Opening and Closing Inventory are the highest-volume categories, averaging ~3.7 million thousand cubic metres each and peaking near 31 million thousand cubic metres, dominating the upper range of the distribution.
• The overall distribution is strongly right-skewed, with a median of just 31,468 thousand cubic metres versus a mean of ~1.23 million thousand cubic metres, reflecting a long tail driven by large inventory and production values.
• 618 records contain negative values, with the most extreme at -5,245,211 thousand cubic metres, concentrated in Inventory Change and Industrial Consumption categories and reflecting seasonal storage drawdowns or statistical adjustments.
• Gross Withdrawals and Marketable Production show the widest production-side ranges, reaching maximums of 21.2 million and 17.9 million thousand cubic metres respectively, consistent with Alberta and British Columbia's dominance as producing provinces.
• Exports — particularly to the United States — represent a major disposition category, and total exports are strongly correlated with their US and other-country sub-components, as expected given the additive relationship.
• Consumption categories (Residential, Commercial, Industrial) exhibit tighter, more consistent monthly distributions compared to inventory and production categories, reflecting predictable seasonal demand patterns rather than large structural swings.