Canadian oil production is set to increase by 140,000 barrels per day starting in April, according to the Natural Resources Minister’s office, a part of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) plan to increase oil supply impacted by the war in Iran.
On late Friday, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson promised that Canada would contribute 23.6 million barrels as a part of the IEA’s plan to have oil-producing countries release an unprecedented 400 million barrels.
The Natural Resources Minister’s office told Global News the increase in Canada oil is not a part of any emergency production. Instead, the additional barrels will come from already planned increases to production from Alberta’s oil sands.
Canada produced on average 5.3 million barrels per day of crude oil in 2025, according to the Canada Energy Regulator, making the upcoming production jump a 2.6 per cent increase in Canadian supply.
Canada is the only G7 country that does not have emergency oil reserves but is not required to under IEA rules, due to being a net exporter of oil.
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Global crude oil prices have fluctuated wildly since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on Feb. 28. At one point, global crude prices briefly surged past US$120 per barrel, levels not see since Russia first invaded Ukraine four years ago.
Iran sits on the north side of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically vital waterway that typically had 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply travel through it on a daily basis.
Those flows have all but vanished due to the war, with Iran having attacked some commercial vessels that attempted to travelling through the Strait of Hormuz and have likely started using underwater mines in the area, according to the United Kingdom’s defence minister.
–with files from The Canadian Press
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