Monthly Refined Petroleum Products (MRPP)

Detailed information for May 2018

To obtain information on the supply of and demand for energy in Canada. This information serves as an important indicator of Canadian economic performance, is used by all levels of government in establishing informed policies in the energy area. The private sector likewise uses this information in the corporate decision-making process.

Data release - June 21, 2018

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

This monthly survey collects data on the activities of all Canadian refineries involved in the production of refined petroleum products and of selected major distributors of these products. This data is required for integration into the input-output sector of the Canadian System of National Accounts. Data is made available under the authority of the Statistics Act to other federal departments and provincial authorities through data sharing agreements subject to embodied principles of data confidentiality. Data is intended for use by survey respondents, industry associations, industry analysts, the press and the general public to assess trends in the Canadian refining sector.

Reference period: Month

Collection period: Data collection is conducted on a monthly basis - 1 to 15 days following the end of the survey reference month.

Subjects

• Energy
• Energy consumption and disposition
• Petroleum products

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The universe is comprised of all refiners and major distributors of refined petroleum products in Canada. The list of survey respondents is updated regularly to ensure a total coverage of refining operations and a sufficiently wide coverage of major distributors of these products. Industries covered include those classified to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS 2017) sub-sector 324 Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing comprised of establishments primarily engaged in transforming crude petroleum and coal into intermediate and end-products. It also includes industries in sub-sector 412 Petroleum Product Wholesaler-Distributors comprised of establishments primarily engaged in wholesaling crude oil, liquefied petroleum gases heating oil and refined petroleum products.

• Additional documentation

Instrument design

This survey has been designed to minimize different interpretations. The survey uses two types of questionnaires - a long-form directed to refineries and a short-form to distributors. The short-form does not ask distributors about refinery operations. The questionnaire is respondent completed in paper format delivered by mail or fax. Data is also transferred in an electronic format by e-mail. The questionnaires are subject to regular revision to reflect changes in refinery operations such as the introduction of new products i.e. low-sulfur diesel and heavy fuel production in 1998.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents, extracted from administrative files and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

The data is collected by an annual mail-out of 12-monthly questionnaires. Questionnaires are completed and returned on a monthly basis. The annual mail-out includes a Survey Reporting Guide. Survey follow-ups are conducted as needed by telephone and fax to reach the survey target response rate (100% per month).

In order to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the data such as the inter-provincial movements, imports and exports of crude oil and deliveries to refineries, the results of the survey are reconciled with other energy surveys. These surveys include the Monthly Oil and Other Liquid Petroleum Products Pipeline Surve(Survey ID 2148). Other federal departments, the National Energy Board, provincial and territorial authorities and international organizations such as the International Energy Agency routinely monitor the data.

Import data from Industrial Account and Trade Division and export data from National Energy Board are combined to survey data in order to create a comprehensive portrait of refined petroleum product sales in Canada. Record-linkage is conducted between the survey data with the administrative data to discern import and export transaction activities, which is then added to the survey estimates.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s).

Error detection

Data processing procedures identify missing data, data entry errors, assess validity of reported data and determine input/output balances for each survey respondent and transactions (or transfers) between respondents. Macro-level edits detect unusual data fluctuations within a current survey period. Survey results are routinely reconciled with other energy surveys such as the Monthly Oil and Other Liquid Petroleum Products Pipeline (Survey ID 2148) and the Quarterly Industrial Consumption of Energy Survey (Survey ID 2166).

Imputation

The response rate for this survey is 100% and as a consequence imputation for non-response is not normally required. However on occasion some respondents may be unable to respond or may be late in responding. In such cases missing data is automatically imputed based on historical information, for example, data from the same month of the previous year.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

Survey data are routinely reconciled with other energy surveys such as Monthly Oil and Other Liquid Petroleum Products Pipeline (Survey ID 2148) and the Quarterly Industrial Consumption of Energy Survey (Survey ID 2166). Other sources for data confrontation are import statistics from the International Accounts and Trade Division (IATD) at Statistics Canada.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Micro data is only shared or disclosed to organizations with whom Statistics Canada has an official data sharing agreement in place. All company records are removed for any respondent who has written the Chief Statistician to object to the sharing of their data.

A generalized system (G-Confid) is used to assess and apply disclosure control to the tabular estimates. Sensitivity rules are applied to the data and a suppression pattern is created which indicates which cells may be published and which cannot be disclosed for reasons of confidentiality. The system is able to automatically assess tabular relationships and map cells to various sources, as well as consider previous periods' patterns and revisions to ensure completeness and consistency of confidentiality.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Revised data is incorporated into the database up to 12-months after the current reference month. Major revisions are incorporated as required.

Data accuracy

The survey is a census of the target population and the survey response rate is normally 100%. As a consequence, under-coverage is minimal, and minimal bias resulting from non-response is introduced. If changes are received from respondents, the data are incorporated and the published data are revised.