Energy Shift
Interactive Map: Crude Oil Pipelines and Refineries of the U.S. and Canada
Mapped: Crude Oil Pipelines and Refineries of the U.S. and Canada
Pipelines are the primary method of transporting crude oil around the world, delivering oil and its derivative products swiftly to refineries and empowering reliant businesses.
And North America is a major oil hub. The U.S. and Canada alone are home to more than 90,000 miles of crude oil and petroleum product pipelines, along with more than 140 refineries that can process around 20 million barrels of oil every day.
This interactive graphic uses data from Rextag to map out crude oil pipelines and refineries across the U.S. and Canada, showcasing individual pipeline diameter and daily refinery throughput.
The Longest Crude Oil Pipeline Networks in North America
Since 2010, U.S. crude oil production has more than doubled from 5.4 million barrels a day to more than 11.5 million. Meanwhile, the pipeline networks needed to transport this newly produced oil have only expanded by roughly 56%.
Today, the largest pipeline network across the U.S. and Canada (with a diameter of at least 10 inches) is the 14,919 mile network managed by Plains, which spans from the northwestern tip of Alberta all the way down to the southern coasts of Texas and Louisiana.
| Company | Length of Crude Oil Pipeline Network |
|---|---|
| Plains Pipeline LP | 14,919 miles |
| Enbridge Energy Partners LP | 12,974 miles |
| Sunoco Inc. | 6,409 miles |
| MPLX LP | 5,913 miles |
| Lotus Midstream | 5,767 miles |
Source: Rextag
Enbridge owns the next largest crude oil pipeline network, with 12,974 miles of crude oil pipelines that are at least 10 inches in diameter. The Canadian company, one of the world’s largest oil companies, transports about 30% of the crude oil produced in North America.
Following the networks of Plains and Enbridge, there’s a steep drop off in the length of pipeline networks, with Sunoco’s crude oil pipeline network spanning about half the length of Enbridge’s at 6,409 miles.
The Largest Crude Oil Refineries in North America
These various sprawling pipeline networks initially carry crude oil to refineries, where it is processed into gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products.
The refineries with the largest throughput in North America are all located in the Gulf Coast (PADD 3), with the five refineries that process more than 500,000 barrels per day all located in the states of Louisiana and Texas.
| Company | City | Refining Capacity (barrels per day) |
|---|---|---|
| Motiva Enterprises | Port Arthur, Texas | 607,000 |
| Marathon Petroleum | Galveston Bay, Texas | 585,000 |
| Marathon Petroleum | Garyville, Louisiana | 578,000 |
| ExxonMobil | Baytown, Texas | 560,000 |
| ExxonMobil | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | 518,000 |
Source: Rextag
While Texas and Louisiana have six refineries that process more than 400,000 barrels per day, there are only two other facilities outside of these states with the same kind of throughput, located in Whiting, Indiana (435,000 barrels per day) and Fort McMurray, Alberta (465,000 barrels per day).
Fort McMurray’s facility is an upgrader, which differs from refineries as it upgrades heavy oils like bitumen into lighter synthetic crude oil which flows through pipelines more easily. Many oil refineries aren’t able to directly convert bitumen, which is extracted from oil sands like those found in Alberta, making upgraders a necessary part in the production and processing of crude oil from oil sands.
The Uncertain Future of New Pipelines in North America
The development of new pipelines remains a contentious issue in Canada and the U.S., with the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline emblematic of growing anti-pipeline sentiment. In 2021, only 14 petroleum liquids pipeline projects were completed in the U.S., which was the lowest amount of new pipelines and expansions since 2013.
But domestic energy production is once again in the spotlight due to the U.S. ban on Russian oil imports and Russia’s impending export ban on raw materials. North American consumers are now facing surging gasoline and energy prices as foreign oil is proving to be far less reliable in times of geopolitical turmoil.
It’s important to note that pipelines are not a perfect solution, as leaks and spills in just the last decade have resulted in billions of dollars of damages. From 2010 to 2020, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration recorded 983 incidents that resulted in 149,000 spilled and unrecovered barrels of oil, five fatalities, 27 injuries, and more than $2.5B in damages.
But over the past five years, liquid pipeline incidents have fallen by 21% while pipeline mileage and barrels delivered have increased by more than 27%. Along with these infrastructure improvements, pipeline developers and operators emphasize the lack of better alternatives, as freight and seaborne transportation are both far less efficient and result in more carbon emissions.
Currently, pipelines remain key components of energy consumption across the U.S. and Canada, and as global energy markets face supply squeezes, international sanctions, and geopolitical turbulence, the focus on them has grown.
Energy Shift
Ranked: The World’s Biggest Oil Producers
Just three countries—the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia—make up the lion’s share of global oil supply. Here are the world’s biggest oil producers.
Ranked: The World’s Biggest Oil Producers
This visualization originally appeared on Visual Capitalist
In 2022 oil prices peaked at more than $100 per barrel, hitting an eight-year high, after a full year of turmoil in the energy markets in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Oil companies doubled their profits and the economies of the biggest oil producers in the world got a major boost.
But which countries are responsible for most of the world’s oil supply? Using data from the Statistical Review of World Energy by the Energy Institute, we’ve visualized and ranked the world’s biggest oil producers.
Ranked: Oil Production By Country, in 2022
The U.S. has been the world’s biggest oil producer since 2018 and continued its dominance in 2022 by producing close to 18 million barrels per day (B/D). This accounted for nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Almost three-fourths of the country’s oil production is centered around five states: Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska, and Colorado.
We rank the other major oil producers in the world below.
| Rank | Country | 2022 Production (Thousand B/D) | YoY Change | Share of World Supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 17,770 | +6.5% | 18.9% |
| 2 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 12,136 | +10.8% | 12.9% |
| 3 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 11,202 | +1.8% | 11.9% |
| 4 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 5,576 | +3.0% | 5.9% |
| 5 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 4,520 | +10.2% | 4.8% |
| 6 | 🇨🇳 China | 4,111 | +2.9% | 4.4% |
| 7 | 🇦🇪 UAE | 4,020 | +10.4% | 4.3% |
| 8 | 🇮🇷 Iran | 3,822 | +4.6% | 4.1% |
| 9 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 3,107 | +3.9% | 3.3% |
| 10 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | 3,028 | +12.0% | 3.2% |
| 11 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 1,944 | +0.9% | 2.1% |
| 12 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 1,901 | -6.3% | 2.0% |
| 13 | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 1,769 | -2.0% | 1.9% |
| 14 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 1,768 | +1.8% | 1.9% |
| 15 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | 1,474 | +8.9% | 1.6% |
| 16 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | 1,450 | -11.2% | 1.5% |
| 17 | 🇦🇴 Angola | 1,190 | +1.1% | 1.3% |
| 18 | 🇱🇾 Libya | 1,088 | -14.3% | 1.2% |
| 19 | 🇴🇲 Oman | 1,064 | +9.6% | 1.1% |
| 20 | 🇬🇧 UK | 778 | -11.0% | 0.8% |
| 21 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | 754 | +2.4% | 0.8% |
| 22 | 🇮🇳 India | 737 | -3.8% | 0.8% |
| 23 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 731 | +8.1% | 0.8% |
| 24 | 🇦🇷 Argentina | 706 | +12.4% | 0.8% |
| 25 | 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan | 685 | -5.6% | 0.7% |
| 26 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 644 | -6.9% | 0.7% |
| 27 | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 613 | +0.8% | 0.7% |
| 28 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 567 | -1.7% | 0.6% |
| 29 | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | 481 | +1.7% | 0.5% |
| 30 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 420 | -5.2% | 0.4% |
| 31 | 🇹🇠Thailand | 331 | -17.5% | 0.4% |
| 32 | 🇨🇩 Congo | 269 | -1.7% | 0.3% |
| 33 | 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan | 244 | +1.0% | 0.3% |
| 34 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 194 | -1.2% | 0.2% |
| 35 | 🇬🇦 Gabon | 191 | +5.4% | 0.2% |
| 36 | 🇸🇸 South Sudan | 141 | -7.6% | 0.2% |
| 37 | 🇵🇪 Peru | 128 | +0.5% | 0.1% |
| 38 | 🇹🇩 Chad | 124 | +6.2% | 0.1% |
| 39 | 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea | 119 | -9.2% | 0.1% |
| 40 | 🇸🇾 Syria | 93 | -2.7% | 0.1% |
| 41 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 92 | -7.9% | 0.1% |
| 42 | 🇧🇳 Brunei | 92 | -13.8% | 0.1% |
| 43 | 🇾🇪 Yemen | 81 | -2.4% | 0.1% |
| 44 | 🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago | 74 | -3.6% | 0.1% |
| 45 | 🇷🇴 Romania | 65 | -6.2% | 0.1% |
| 46 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 65 | -1.6% | 0.1% |
| 47 | 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan | 63 | -0.9% | 0.1% |
| 48 | 🇸🇩 Sudan | 62 | -3.3% | 0.1% |
| 49 | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | 40 | -12.9% | 0.0% |
| 50 | Other CIS | 43 | +4.4% | 0.0% |
| 51 | Other Middle East | 210 | +1.2% | 0.2% |
| 52 | Other Africa | 283 | -3.4% | 0.3% |
| 53 | Other Europe | 230 | -20.5% | 0.2% |
| 54 | Other Asia Pacific | 177 | -10.6% | 0.2% |
| 55 | Other S. & Cent. America | 381 | +68.5% | 0.4% |
| Total World | 93,848 | +4.2% | 100.0% |
Behind America’s considerable lead in oil production, Saudi Arabia (ranked 2nd) produced 12 million B/D, accounting for about 13% of global supply.
Russia came in third with 11 million B/D in 2022. Together, these top three oil producing behemoths, along with Canada (4th) and Iraq (5th), make up more than half of the entire world’s oil supply.
Meanwhile, the top 10 oil producers, including those ranked 6th to 10th—China, UAE, Iran, Brazil, and Kuwait—are responsible for more than 70% of the world’s oil production.
Notably, all top 10 oil giants increased their production between 2021–2022, and as a result, global output rose 4.2% year-on-year.
Major Oil Producing Regions in 2022
The Middle East accounts for one-third of global oil production and North America makes up almost another one-third of production. The Commonwealth of Independent States—an organization of post-Soviet Union countries—is another major regional producer of oil, with a 15% share of world production.
| Region | 2022 Production (Thousand B/D) | YoY Change | Share of World Supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle East | 30,743 | +9.2% | 32.8% |
| North America | 25,290 | +5.3% | 27.0% |
| CIS | 14,006 | +0.9% | 14.9% |
| Africa | 7,043 | -3.5% | 7.5% |
| Asia Pacific | 7,273 | -1.4% | 7.8% |
| South & Central America | 6,361 | 7.2% | 6.8% |
| Europe | 3,131 | -8.6% | 3.3% |
What’s starkly apparent in the data however is Europe’s declining share of oil production, now at 3% of the world’s supply. In the last 20 years the EU’s oil output has dropped by more than 50% due to a variety of factors, including stricter environmental regulations and a shift to natural gas.
Another lens to look at regional production is through OPEC members, which control about 35% of the world’s oil output and about 70% of the world’s oil reserves.
When taking into account the group of 10 oil exporting countries OPEC has relationships with, known as OPEC+, the share of oil production increases to more than half of the world’s supply.
Oil’s Big Balancing Act
Since it’s the very lifeblood of the modern economy, the countries that control significant amounts of oil production also reap immense political and economic benefits. Entire regions have been catapulted into prosperity and wars have been fought over the control of the resource.
At the same time, the ongoing effort to pivot to renewable energy is pushing many major oil exporters to diversify their economies. A notable example is Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth fund has invested in companies like Uber and WeWork.
However, the world still needs oil, as it supplies nearly one-third of global energy demand.
Energy Shift
What Electricity Sources Power the World?
Coal still leads the charge when it comes to electricity, representing 35% of global power generation.
What Powered the World in 2022?
In 2022, 29,165.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity was generated around the world, an increase of 2.3% from the previous year.
In this visualization, we look at data from the latest Statistical Review of World Energy, and ask what powered the world in 2022.
Coal is Still King
Coal still leads the charge when it comes to electricity, representing 35.4% of global power generation in 2022, followed by natural gas at 22.7%, and hydroelectric at 14.9%.
Source: Energy Institute
Over three-quarters of the world’s total coal-generated electricity is consumed in just three countries. China is the top user of coal, making up 53.3% of global coal demand, followed by India at 13.6%, and the U.S. at 8.9%.
Burning coal—for electricity, as well as metallurgy and cement production—is the world’s single largest source of CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, its use in electricity generation has actually grown 91.2% since 1997, the year when the first global climate agreement was signed in Kyoto, Japan.
Renewables on the Rise
However, even as non-renewables enjoy their time in the sun, their days could be numbered.
In 2022, renewables, such as wind, solar, and geothermal, represented 14.4% of total electricity generation with an extraordinary annual growth rate of 14.7%, driven by big gains in solar and wind. Non-renewables, by contrast, only managed an anemic 0.4%.
The authors of the Statistical Review do not include hydroelectric in their renewable calculations, even though many others, including the International Energy Agency, consider it a “well-established renewable power technology.”
With hydroelectric moved into the renewable column, together they accounted for over 29.3% of all electricity generated in 2022, with an annual growth rate of 7.4%.
France’s Nuclear Horrible Year
Another big mover in this year’s report was nuclear energy.
In addition to disruptions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, shutdowns in France’s nuclear fleet to address corrosion found in the safety injection systems of four reactors led to a 4% drop in global use, year-over-year.
The amount of electricity generated by nuclear energy in that country dropped 22% to 294.7 TWh in 2022. As a result, France went from being the world’s biggest exporter of electricity, to a net importer.
Powering the Future
Turning mechanical energy into electrical energy is a relatively straightforward process. Modern power plants are engineering marvels, to be sure, but they still work on the same principle as the very first generator invented by Michael Faraday in 1831.
But how you get the mechanical energy is where things get complicated: coal powered the first industrial revolution, but heated the planet in the process; wind is free and clean, but is unreliable; and nuclear fission reliably generates emission-free electricity, but also creates radioactive waste.
With temperature records being set around the world in the summer, resolving these tensions isn’t just academic and next year’s report could be a crucial test of the world’s commitment to a clean energy future.
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