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Oil-Sands Operations Resume After Wildfire

Both major oil-sands producers’ operations are located in Alberta’s Cold Lake region, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) northeast of Alberta’s capital, Edmonton. The blaze had shut in nearly 10% of Canada’s oil-sands output, or about 233,000 barrels a day, since it was detected May 22. Canadian Natural said full production has resumed at its 80,000-barrel-a-day Primrose site, which had been evacuated due to the closure of an access road, and its 25,000-barrel-a-day Kirby South operation, which had cut back output after the shutdown of a third-party pipeline. Cenovus said operations have returned to normal at its nearby Foster Creek site, which has a capacity of 135,000 barrels a day and is jointly owned with ConocoPhillips . COP -0.81 % The Calgary-based company said it expects the 11-day shutdown to reduce second-quarter production by about 10,500 barrels a day and crimp annual production by about 2,600 barrels a day. However, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canadian Oil Sands Resume Output as Wildfire Threat Recedes

CALGARY—Two major Canadian oil sands operators said Monday they have resumed output at sites that had been shut down by a more than two-week old wildfire in northern Alberta, which exports much of its crude oil production to the U.S. The blaze had shut-in nearly 10% of Canada’s oil sands output, or about 233,000 barrels a day, since it was first detected on May 22. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. CNQ -2.32 % said it expects to resume full production later this week at its 80,000 barrel-per-day Primrose site, which had been evacuated and shut down, and its 30,000 barrel-a-day Kirby South operation, which was forced to cut output due to the temporary closure of a pipeline. Cenovus Energy Inc. CVE -3.28 % said it began ramping up production at its 135,000 barrel-per-day Foster Creek site over the weekend, but didn’t provide an estimate for when output levels would return […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fire threat to oil abates in Alberta

Crews returning to oil installations in Alberta as threat of wildfire subsides. Rain forecast through end of the week in the Canadian province. File Photo by UPI/Al Golub CALGARY, Alberta, June 3 (UPI) — Staff members are returning to Alberta oil installations after emergency service officials cleared the area of major wildfire threats, Cenovus Energy said. Rain is expected through the end of the week in Calgary, the nation’s forecaster said. Hot, dry weather led provincial authorities in May to issue an open-fire ban to curb the spread of wildfires in Alberta. As of Friday, more than 43,000 hectares have burned, though only five of the 41 active fires are considered out of control. Cenovus Energy said its crews were working to restore power to its Foster Creek oil sands operation, which has the capacity to process 135,000 barrels of oil per day. Foster Creek was closed by fire […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Western Canadian Wildfires Shut in Oil Sands Production

CALGARY—Wildfires that have crimped Alberta’s oil sands production for more than a week continue to burn, officials said Monday, dealing another blow to producers already spooked by low crude prices and expected royalty increases. Some 1,400 firefighters in northern Alberta—including hundreds from neighboring provinces—have been working to douse or corral dozens of wildfires which have raged for several days, spread by strong winds and dry underbrush in the boreal forests that dominate the landscape. Of 35 blazes currently being fought, five have yet to be contained, including the largest which has engulfed nearly 80,000 acres in the province’s northeast, said Richard Horne, a spokesman for the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Ministry. “Our crews are still working around the clock to get the fire under control and build a perimeter,” Mr. Horne said, adding that light rain and milder winds over the weekend helped firefighters extend a fire proof zone […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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A visit to the heart of Canada’s oil sands industry

Since 2007 when we published our article, ”A crash program scenario for the Canadian oil sands industry” a visit to Fort McMurray and the areas where oil sands are mined has always been high on my wish list. On my current trip I passed Calgary on the way to Toronto so I finally got an opportunity to visit the oil sands. The flight from Calgary became an interesting introduction to the industry. It was on a small aircraft with around 50 seats and about 40 of the passengers were presumably workers on their way back to Fort McMurray after a week’s leave. A three week session of work on the tar sands awaited them. This report is a description of my trip and does not take a position for or against the mining of oil sands. During the weekends from May until and including autumn the Oil Sands Community […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Alberta Wildfires Burn For 6th Day, 10% Of Oil Sands Crude Offline

CALGARY, Alberta, May 28 (Reuters) – Firefighters battled wildfires in northern Alberta, Canada’s biggest crude-producing region , for a sixth day on Thursday, with two blazes near oil sands facilities still out of control. The wildfires have forced producers in the Western Canadian province, the largest source of U.S. crude imports, to shut in 233,000 barrels per day of crude production, around 10 percent of total oil sands output. The biggest fire, on the Canadian military’s Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, had grown in size to 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) from 17,000 hectares on Wednesday. That blaze has forced Cenovus Energy Inc and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd to shut down production and evacuate staff from their Foster Creek and Primrose oil sands projects. Janelle Lane, a wildfire information officer at the Alberta government, said the fire had advanced to roughly 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) away from Cenovus’s Foster Creek […]

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Alberta fires threaten oil installations

More than 30 new blazes erupt in Alberta as energy companies report key installations under threat. File photo Heinz Ruckemann/UPI CALGARY, Alberta, May 28 (UPI) — Wildfires are moving closer to key oil installations in Alberta province as the government reports nearly three dozen new outbreaks in the last 24 hours. The provincial government in Alberta enacted an open-fire ban amid a persistent threat of wildfires. The government expects hot, dry conditions to continue at least through the end of the week . "In the last 24 hours there have been 33 new wildfires," the provincial government said in its latest update. "The wildfire outlook in Alberta continues to be severe." Since April 1, more than 600 wildfires have been reported , charring more than 32,000 acres of land. As of late Wednesday, there were 63 active wildfires in the province and 13 are out of control. Canadian energy […]

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Hundreds more oil sands staff evacuated on Alberta fire threat

CALGARY, Alberta Statoil ASA, MEG Energy Corp and Cenovus Energy Inc evacuated hundreds of workers from three oil sands projects in northeastern Alberta on Tuesday as wildfires raged through the key crude-producing region. The latest evacuations are in addition to project shutdowns by Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd over the weekend, as companies rushed to remove staff from potential danger. At least 233,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, 9 percent of Alberta’s total oil sands output, have been suspended because of the fire risk, though none of the projects have been damaged. The Alberta government said there are 70 forest fires now burning in the province, with 20 considered out of control. Lightning storms are forecast for Tuesday evening, increasing the risk of more fires, a government spokesman said. Cenovus evacuated all 90 staff from its Narrows Lake oil sands project on Tuesday, which is not […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New York snubs Albany port bitumen project

ALBANY, N.Y., May 22 (UPI) — New York’s state government found there would be "at least one" environmental issue with a proposal to build a tar sands storage facility at a rail terminal. The state Department of Environmental Conservation rescinded a 2013 notice to Global Partners, which has headquarters in Massachusetts, that a proposed project to warm rail cars filled with the heavier form of crude oil called bitumen would not present environmental threats. Global wanted to install boilers at its Albany terminal to offload to vessels headed for coastal refineries. DEC rescinded its 2013 notice after reviewing thousands of comments and documents, including those submitted by environmental groups. Its review found "little experience" with heating bitumen in major oil storage facilities. "This new information suggests that the proposed project has the potential for at least one significant adverse environmental impact that was not considered in the negative declaration," […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Investors Urged to Avoid Oil Sands After Alberta Election

Pipelines run toward oil storage tanks stand at the Enbridge Inc. Cushing storage terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma. Energy suppliers cut about $126 billion of expenditure following last year’s price drop of almost 50 percent, estimates Wood Mackenzie Ltd., an Edinburgh-based consultant. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Investors may want to steer clear of oil sands developers and coal producers and buy royalty stocks and companies with assets outside Alberta. That’s the advice of portfolio managers and analysts after energy stocks declined Wednesday following the surprise election victory by the New Democratic Party in Alberta. An index of Canadian energy companies plunged the most in three months after the win by Rachel Notley’s NDP, which has pledged to boost corporate taxes, review the government’s royalty rates for energy producers and phase out coal power. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. is among the most exposed to a potential hike in royalties and stricter environmental […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple