Latest news with #FortMcMurray
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Canadian Natural Resources restarts oil sands operation as wildfire risk lessens
CALGARY, June 4 (Reuters) - Canadian Natural Resources ( opens new tab has restarted its Jackfish 1 oil sands site in northern Alberta after determining wildfires in the region were a safe distance away. The country's biggest oil producer said late on Tuesday its operation at the site will ramp up over the next several days, targeting full production of approximately 36,500 barrels per day by Friday. Canadian Natural evacuated non-essential workers from its Jackfish 1 location and halted production as a precaution on Saturday due to wildfires burning south of Fort McMurray. The company is one of several whose operations in Canada's main oil-producing province have been disrupted due to out-of-control wildfires. About 344,000 bpd of oil sands production was offline earlier this week, representing approximately 7% of Canada's crude oil output, according to Reuters calculations. As of Wednesday morning, approximately 238,000 bpd of production remained halted at Cenovus Energy's ( opens new tab Christina Lake oil sands facility. MEG Energy ( opens new tab workers also remained evacuated from that company's Christina Lake regional project. There have been no reports of significant damage to oil infrastructure or company assets due to the fires. The fires are also weakening Canadian natural gas prices. Spot gas prices at Alberta's AECO hub fell to near zero this week (six cents per million British thermal units on Tuesday and 10 cents on Wednesday), likely due to lower demand from oil sands operations, according to consultancy Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
CBC
a day ago
- General
- CBC
Crown seeks 25 years parole ineligibility in Fort McMurray murder sentencing
Crown prosecutors argued Monday that a Fort McMurray man found guilty of second-degree murder and offering indignity to human remains in the death of his common-law partner should be ineligible for parole for a maximum of 25 years. The mandatory sentence for second-degree murder in Canada is life imprisonment, with a parole ineligibility period between 10 years and 25 years. Timothy McDougall shot and killed Sherri Lynn Flett on Jan. 13, 2022, after an argument in their bedroom. McDougall left the premises with his roommate Nicholas Herman and his partner Winter Fedorus-Agombar, but returned two days later. The trio put Flett's body in a Rubbermaid container and hid it in the garage of a different home in Grayling Terrace in Fort McMurray. Flett's body was discovered 11 days later. Speaking at the Court of King's Bench in Fort McMurray, prosecutors Anna Gillespie and Alison Magill cited several aggravating factors they said warranted a stiff parole ineligibility. They include that McDougall's offence was abuse of an intimate partner and involved the use of an illegal firearm. The defence argued for 14-year parole ineligibility. Defence counsel Jamil Savani said McDougall's long history of substance abuse, as well as intergenerational trauma as reasons for a less harsh parole ineligibility. In a letter that Savani read in court, Julia McDougall, Timothy McDougall's mother, said she is a residential school survivor, having attended the Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan. Her experiences in residential school, as well as her own history of family abuse, had a lasting impact. In her letter she said that she struggled with parenting her son, who began abusing alcohol and drugs at a young age. Impact on family During the trial, dozens rallied at the Fort McMurray courthouse seeking justice for Flett, who was a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Lynn Flett's family members said Monday in their own victim impact statements that her death still affects them to this day. "Sherri's death has broken my spirit and my strength," said Flett's cousin Lori Cyprien. Denise Krueger, also Flett's cousin, said she and Flett "were like sisters." Krueger's victim impact statement was read in court by Magill. "Our connection was deep and lasting," the letter said. Flett was remembered as a kind and fun-loving person. She left behind a young daughter, whom Krueger described as Flett's "greatest legacy." Krueger expressed gratitude to Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Kent Davidson, who convicted McDougall, for his decision. Sentencing will be completed at a later date.
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
How Canada's wildfires are affecting oil supply
CALGARY, Alberta, June 3 (Reuters) - Wildfires burning in Canada's oil-producing province of Alberta have reduced the country's daily crude production by about 7%. Here is a tally of affected oil production sites so far: CENOVUS ENERGY - CHRISTINA LAKE SITE: Oil sands producer Cenovus ( opens new tab evacuated non-essential workers from its Christina Lake site south of Fort McMurray, Alberta on May 29 and began shutting in approximately 238,000 barrels per day of production. The company said it is not aware of any damage to its infrastructure and expects a full restart of the site in the near term. CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES ( opens new tab - JACKFISH LAKE: Canada's largest oil and gas producer said on May 31 it had evacuated workers from its Jackfish 1 thermal in situ operations south of Fort McMurray, Alberta and completed the safe, temporary shut-in of approximately 36,500 bpd of bitumen production. MEG ENERGY - CHRISTINA LAKE REGIONAL PROJECT: Oil sands company MEG ( opens new tab said on May 31 it had evacuated non-essential personnel from its Christina Lake regional project site south of Fort McMurray. The company said the wildfire damaged a power line connecting the project to Alberta's electricity grid, which was delaying the planned startup of MEG's phase 2B operations. They represent approximately 70,000 bpd of production.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Alberta's wildfires disrupt some 7% of Canada's oil production
CALGARY, June 2 (Reuters) - Wildfires burning in Canada's oil-producing province of Alberta have affected more than 344,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, or about 7% of the country's overall crude oil output, according to Reuters calculations. At least two thermal oil sands operators south of the industry hub of Fort McMurray evacuated workers from their sites over the weekend and shut production as a precaution. Canadian Natural Resources ( opens new tab said it evacuated workers from its Jackfish 1 location and shut in approximately 36,500 bpd of bitumen production. Cenovus Energy ( opens new tab said it evacuated non-essential personnel from its Christina Lake oil sands site, and shut in approximately 238,000 bpd of production. The company said on Sunday it is not aware of any damage to its infrastructure and anticipates a full restart of its Christina Lake operations in the near term. MEG Energy ( opens new tab said on Friday it had evacuated workers from its Christina Lake site. While production at the site continues, the company said on Saturday that the fires caused a power outage that is delaying startup of its Phase 2B operations, which represent approximately 70,000 barrels per day of production. Wildfires have also affected some of Alberta's conventional oil-and-gas production. A blaze burning near the town of Swan Hills in the northern part of the province forced Aspenleaf Energy to shut in about 4,000 bpd of production last week. Canada produces about 4.9 million barrels of oil per day. Alberta has 49 active fires and there are 24 active fires in Manitoba and 16 in Saskatchewan, according to provincial data. In parts of Minnesota and North Dakota, air quality reached unhealthy levels on Monday, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow page. In 2023, Canadian wildfires blanketed much of the U.S. East Coast in smoke, forcing millions of Americans to stay indoors. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Monday that some 400,000 hectares (988,422 acres) have now burned in the province, up from about 9,000 as of last week. She said nearly 5,000 people have been evacuated, adding that the government is restarting its emergency management cabinet committee out of concerns the situation in the province is worsening. "We've got to be able to respond in a way that is going to be rapid," Smith told reporters in Saskatoon. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says that as of June 1, a total of 1.4 million hectares have burned so far across Canada. Last week, Manitoba urged 17,000 people to evacuate due to fires in the province's remote north. Wildfires have hit oil and gas production in Canada several times in the past decade. Last year, Suncor Energy ( opens new tab, Canada's second-largest oil sands producer, temporarily curtailed production at its Firebag complex due to a nearby blaze. In May of 2023, companies shut in at least 319,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 3.7% of Canada's total production, as more than 100 wildfires burned in Alberta. In 2016, thousands of oil sands workers were evacuated as a monster wildfire destroyed part of the community of Fort McMurray, forcing companies to reduce their oil output by a million barrels per day.
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Wildfires force Alberta oil sands producers to evacuate workers, stop some oil flows
Three major oil sands producers have evacuated workers from sites in Northern Alberta as wildfires ravage the region. On Saturday, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. CNQ-T said it had evacuated workers from its Jackfish 1 operation about 180 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, and temporarily halted roughly 36,500 barrels per day of bitumen production. The company said all workers are safe and accounted for with no reported injuries, and have been relocated to other CNRL facilities. Also on Saturday, MEG Energy Corp. MEG-T said it had evacuated all non-essential personnel from its Christina Lake Regional Project production facility in response to a wildfire south of the site. The fire knocked out power lines that connect the site to Alberta's electric grid. Christina Lake, roughly 160 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, has power cogeneration capabilities, so it is continuing to produce oil. But MEG said the power outage has delayed startup of its next phase of operations at the site, which represents roughly 70,000 barrels per day of production. MEG said it is working with its third-party power provider to restore grid connection and return to full capacity. 'The safety of our people and protection of our assets remain our top priorities, and there is no immediate risk to either,' Darlene Gates, MEG's chief executive, said in a statement. 'We are working closely with authorities and coordinating with our industry peers to support each other and resume normal operations.' Last week, Cenovus Energy Inc. CVE-T restricted workers at its Christina Lake oil sands site to essential personnel, and shut-in approximately 238,000 barrels a day of production. The company said Sunday it had inspected the site and is not aware of any damage to its infrastructure. It anticipates a full restart of Christina Lake operations in the near future, as soon as its safe to do so. All companies said they were closely monitoring the overall wildfire situation in Alberta and thanked firefighters and emergency management teams. Out-of-control wildfires blazed through northern Alberta last summer, prompting a ream of evacuations from various oil sands sites. The massive wildfire that destroyed part of Fort McMurray in May, 2016, resulted in oil sands production losses as high as one million barrels a day at the height of the disaster. The production outage caused by the wildfire resulted in a 14-per-cent decline of crude oil exports loaded in Alberta. The resulting economic impact was so severe that Canadian GDP contracted 0.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2016. Economists said GDP would have grown 0.1 per cent that quarter, were it not for the effect of wildfires on Canadian oil production.
