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Alberta wildfires interrupt 7% of Canada’s oil production

Calculations show that wildfires in Canada's oil producing province of Alberta affected the production of more than 344,000 barrels of oil sands per day, or approximately 7% of Canada's total crude oil output.

Over the weekend, at least two thermal oil-sands producers south of Fort McMurray, the hub of the industry in Canada's north, evacuated their workers and shut down production.

Canadian Natural Resources announced that it had evacuated its Jackfish 1 site and halted production of approximately 36,500 Bpd.

Cenovus Energy announced that it had evacuated all non-essential staff from the Christina Lake oil sands facility and had shut down production of approximately 238,000 barrels per day.

The company stated on Sunday that it was not aware of any damages to its infrastructure, and expects its Christina Lake operations to resume in the near future.

MEG Energy announced on Friday that it had evacuated its Christina Lake facility. The company continued to produce at the site, but said that Saturday the fires had caused a power failure that was delaying the startup of Phase 2B operations. This represents approximately 70,000 barrels of production per day.

Wildfires also have affected Alberta's conventional oil and gas production. Aspenleaf Energy was forced to stop production due to a fire burning in the north of the province near Swan Hills.

Canada produces approximately 4.9 million barrels per day.

According to provincial data, Alberta has 49 active wildfires. Manitoba has 24 active fires. Saskatchewan has 16.

According to the AirNow page of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Monday's air quality in parts of Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin reached unhealthy levels. In 2023, Canadian fires will blanket the U.S. East Coast with smoke. This will force millions of Americans indoors.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced on Monday that 400,000 hectares (988.422 acres), up from 9,000 last week, had now burned across the province.

She added that nearly 5,000 people had been evacuated and that the government has reactivated its cabinet committee for emergency management due to concerns about the worsening situation in the province.

Smith told Saskatoon reporters, "We have to be able respond quickly." According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, as of June 1 a total area of 1.4 millions hectares had burned across Canada. Manitoba warned 17,000 people last week to leave the remote northern part of the province due to wildfires.

In the last decade, wildfires have affected oil and gas production in Canada.

Suncor Energy, Canada’s second largest oil sands company, temporarily halted production at its Firebag Complex due to an adjacent fire.

Alberta's wildfires will burn more than 100 times in May 2023. This means that companies will shut down at least 319,000 barrels equivalent to oil per day or 3.7% of Canada’s total production.

In 2016, thousands were evacuated from Fort McMurray as a wildfire destroyed a large part of the town. This forced companies to cut their oil production by one million barrels a day.

(source: Reuters)