Electricity flowing from plants at Canada’s oil sands operations has shrunk by almost a third as a wildfire ravages the region, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate in what may become the country’s costliest catastrophe. Cogeneration plants that use the steam from Alberta’s oil sands production were supplying 950 megawatts of power to the region at about 7 p.m. New York time on Thursday, electricity grid data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s down 29 percent from three days ago. Natural gas output in the province has meanwhile dropped by a half-billion cubic feet a day since late April, data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance show. While the fire may affect more than a million barrels of oil sands capacity a day, the power and gas drop-offs show how the impact of a blaze wreaking havoc in Canada’s most energy-rich region extends beyond its crude supply. Pipeline […]