Natural Resources committee  Yes, and we did see it took a little time for the market to move the propane to where it was needed. But the movement of propane out of the caverns in the gulf coast up into the Midwest, which then connects up into the problem areas that we were experiencing in central Canada, or Ontario and Quebec, was a big part of what actually provided the relief that was a little slow in coming, but did ultimately come to the places where the propane was really needed.

Natural Resources committee  Historically, industrial use, including petrochemicals, has been a significant source of Canadian demand. A significant factor in the market is that petrochemical producers have a decent amount of flexibility in what feedstock they use, and lately, just because of relative prices of different NGLs, they have been shifting away from propane a little bit.

Natural Resources committee  I have a couple of points. The agricultural demand in the U.S., during 2013, was estimated to be as much as five times greater than it was in 2012, so that was a significant factor. Going by memory, I believe that in the propane report, it was noted that some suppliers saw a demand increase of as much as 50% for home heating.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, there's table 4.1 in the report. As Mr. Hubbard alluded to, we saw similar per cent increases, actually slightly higher, in prior years. In terms of actual cents per litre, looking at Sarnia prices, these were the highest that we've seen. If you adjust to current dollars, we did get probably about 60¢ back in 2000 if you account for inflation, but these were higher.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. I would just add two things. We tend to look more at the macro-picture as opposed to the individual retailer level. Two things suggest to me that it was more than just an isolated retailer perhaps making a miscalculation. We did see very large inventory draws across significant areas, and that suggests that it was a substantial increase in demand that was affecting more than just an individual retailer.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Shelley. Where do we stand today? I'm happy to say that it's largely a good news update. Two weeks ago the NEB released a market snapshot highlighting the Canadian propane market's recovery from last winter. Wholesale propane prices that spiked to above 76¢ per litre in Edmonton and Sarnia in late January were trading in last week's spot markets at 16¢ per litre in Edmonton and 29¢ per litre in Sarnia.