Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing Data: From Spot Tape to Pump Price · Head-to-head
EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) vs Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data
Which oil & gas refining & marketing data: from spot tape to pump price data fits your job: EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook, or Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data. API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO)
Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data
Where the fields line up
No shared field names. These two answer different questions.
| Field | EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook | Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data |
|---|---|---|
Series identifier (EIA STEO mnemonic) | documented | not in this set |
Row label | documented | not in this set |
Period (annual or monthly) | documented | not in this set |
Value with table-header units | documented | not in this set |
Forecast completion date | documented | not in this set |
Date | not in this set | documented |
Company | not in this set | documented |
Pipeline | not in this set | documented |
Key Point | not in this set | documented |
Latitude/Longitude | not in this set | documented |
Direction Of Flow | not in this set | documented |
Trade Type | not in this set | documented |
Coverage, side by side
| EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook | Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data | |
|---|---|---|
| Geographic | World, OPEC and non-OPEC aggregates plus United States national and PADD-level regional detail | Canada: CER-regulated systems with key points spanning producing regions, provincial borders and export crossings |
| Temporal | Roughly two historical years plus monthly projections through the end of the following calendar year (August 2026 edition spans 2024-2027); past editions archived to 1983 | January 2006 to present, verified through March 31, 2026 |
| Granularity | Monthly and annual values, national and regional | Monthly per key point for oil and liquids pipelines; daily per key point for natural gas pipelines |
What each contains
They tie on 1 attribute. Pick by fit, not by loyalty.
| EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook | Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data | |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) | Canada Energy Regulator |
| Subject lens | Monthly forecast of global and US energy markets: prices, production, consumption, refinery balances and inventories through the end of the following calendar year | Regulator-filed throughput and capacity for major CER-regulated Canadian oil and natural gas pipelines at named measurement points |
| Documented fields | 5 fields, definitions verified during research | 16 fields, definitions verified during research |
| Geographic coverage | World, OPEC and non-OPEC aggregates plus United States national and PADD-level regional detail | Canada: CER-regulated systems with key points spanning producing regions, provincial borders and export crossings |
| Temporal coverage | Roughly two historical years plus monthly projections through the end of the following calendar year (August 2026 edition spans 2024-2027); past editions archived to 1983 | January 2006 to present, verified through March 31, 2026 |
| Granularity | Monthly and annual values, national and regional | Monthly per key point for oil and liquids pipelines; daily per key point for natural gas pipelines |
| Scale | One workbook of 28 table sheets, roughly 140-175 rows each | Roughly 48 files across 19-plus pipeline systems; the largest holds about 11.5 MB of daily rows |
| Forecast content | Yes - every table mixes history with projection, stamped by forecast completion date | None - measured volumes and capacities only |
| Secondary industries | Oil & Gas Equipment & Services | None |
| Best for | Price paths, supply-demand balances, scenario baselines and revision tracking over the next eight quarters | Utilization, capacity headroom, contracted versus uncommitted volumes and constraint causes on named systems |
Where they're equivalent
More than their different shapes suggest. Same quality tier: 9 of 10 each against the catalog's 7.81 average, with field dictionaries definition-verified during research. Same institutional class of compiler - a national statistics and regulation operation on each side of the border, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Canada Energy Regulator. Same flat, tabular discipline: rows of typed columns rather than narrative reports with numbers buried in prose. And both bracket the same continental question from opposite ends: what the North American barrel will do next, and what it actually did. For the downstream half of that question, see refinery throughput.
The verdict
Verdict: sample both, pick by fit - a forecast instrument and a flow ledger rarely compete for the same desk.
Take Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data if the question names a pipe. Export egress and available capacity on Trans Mountain or Keystone, utilization by key point, contracted versus uncommitted volumes, constraint events and their documented causes - anything answered by measured flows on a specific system.
Investors and quants tag both at relevance 3 - STEO to anchor commodity views and scenario work, CER to track the physical utilization behind basis and egress risk. Market researchers lean STEO for client-ready outlook numbers; data scientists get their benchmark-versus-actual pairing only by holding both.
Sample both, pick by fit. See EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook · See Canada Energy Regulator — Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data
Or take both in one feed
Yes - as projection and verification, which is the pairing cross-border energy work actually wants. A defensible workflow: let STEO set the backdrop - US crude output rising toward a projected 14.2 million barrels per day in 2027 implies more barrels seeking export routes - then read CER for what those routes actually carried and how much capacity remained available on each.
Four seams decide whether the merge holds. First, geography: the overlap is thin - STEO resolves to world aggregates and US regions while CER resolves to Canadian key points, so the join happens in your model, not in the data. Second, tense: never mix STEO projected cells into a historical panel - filter on the period type and keep the forecast_date vintage stamped on every pull. Third, units: barrels and dollars per gallon against thousand cubic metres per day and gigajoules - convert before computing any ratio across the pair. Fourth, field availability: CER's committed-volume columns are documented per pipeline (Keystone's begin January 2023), so check presence before building a contract-structure time series. Browse the rest of the shelf at the Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing data hub.
Datadory ships either record alone or both merged onto one calendar, delivered daily, weekly, or hourly - your call. Or take both in one feed.
API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
Fair questions
Is the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook better than the Canada Energy Regulator pipeline throughput data?
Better at different jobs. The CER data owns the past tense: measured throughput and available capacity at named Canadian key points, monthly for oil lines and daily for gas lines, since 2006. Sample both, pick by fit.
Do the two datasets contain the same kind of data?
No - one is forecasts, the other is measurements. STEO's five-field dictionary describes statistical series keyed by mnemonic, with a value that may be an observation or a projection. The CER dictionary's sixteen fields describe physical movements: company, pipeline, key point, direction of flow, trade type, throughput, and nameplate versus available capacity with a variance reason.
Which dataset reaches further back?
Depends what counts as back. CER offers one continuous panel of actuals from January 2006 to the present, ideal for utilization trends. STEO's archive stretches to 1983, but each edition carries only about two historical years - older editions are separate vintages, not one seamless series.
Which should an analyst tracking export pipeline headroom sample first?
Start with the CER Pipeline Throughput and Capacity Data: available capacity beside nameplate, throughput at each key point, and variance reasons documenting outages and constraints.
Can I get both the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook and the CER pipeline dataset from Datadory?
Yes - sample both and pick by fit, or take both in one feed. Datadory normalizes each to its verified field dictionary (five fields on the STEO side, sixteen on the CER side), attaches sample rows for inspection before anything ships, and delivers daily, weekly, or hourly - your call. Or take both in one feed.