Wildfires Erupt in Canadian Oil Sands Hub

New out-of-control wildfires have erupted across Alberta since late July 17, with blazes potentially threatening over 0.4m b/d of production, Bloomberg said.

• Many of the fires are burning south of the unofficial oil sands capital of Fort McMurray.
• One such fire is around 10km from MED 100k b/d Energy’s Christina Lake site.
• Another is within 10km of Imperial Oil’s 19k b/d Cold Lake, while a third is close to Kirby Oil sands.
• Wildfires have already affected production in Alberta – the world’s third-largest crude reserve – forcing a partial evacuation of Fort McMurray in May.
• Production has been curtailed at the 231k b/d Firebag site and from the Sunrise oil sands where some workers were demobilised.
• Greenfire resources also cut some output from Hangingstone last weekend, which produces around 23k b/d.
• Imperial Oil may also remove some non-essential workers from its Keral oil sands mine.