Latest news with #oilSands
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Alberta Wildfire Danger Eases With Rain as Oil Output Restored
A second day of rain slowed the spread of wildfires in Alberta, allowing some oil sands production to be restored. Conditions Wednesday were a stark contrast to the explosive spread of blazes last week that forced evacuations and at one point shut about 7% of Canada's daily oil production.
Reuters
a day 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.
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Climate
- Globe and Mail
Thousands of hotel rooms opened for wildfire evacuees from Western Canada
Rain and cooler temperatures on the Prairies offered little to no respite from multiple wildfires burning in the region, as provinces opened thousands of hotel rooms for evacuees from Western Canada. More than 190 wildfires were active across the country Monday, with 97 deemed out of control. Hazardous smoke and thick fumes reached beyond the Canadian border, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which issued air-quality warnings from Minnesota to Florida. Manitoba was forced to send people for shelter to Southern Ontario, with the province struggling to find lodging capacity for more than 17,000 residents who fled from their homes. Saskatchewan and Alberta, at the same time, ordered evacuations for dozens more communities. 'You can imagine the stress for the people on the ground,' Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told reporters Monday at a first ministers' meeting in Saskatoon. 'As a nation, we're going to have to contend with future fire seasons being more and more like this, which means scaling up our firefighting capability.' Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan declared provincewide states of emergency last week. The little precipitation that fell Monday in Manitoba did not make much of a dent for firefighters, and officials have warned there is increased risk this week from possible lightning. The province is grappling with 25 active wildfires. Wildfires force Alberta oil sands producers to evacuate workers, stop some oil flows Mr. Kinew said the crews are doing their best to scale up capacity for evacuees, who have been flown in mostly from northern communities. He expects nearly 1,000 more hotel rooms to open by Tuesday in Winnipeg, where a handful of large arenas and soccer fields have been converted into shelters. But in the meantime, he said, Ontario hotels are opening several thousand rooms for Manitoba's evacuees. 'It's in these moments of emergency, and in these moments of crisis, where you see the true nature of Canadians shine through,' Mr. Kinew said. Irene Blacksmith from Pimicikamak Cree Nation was one of hundreds of people sent more than 2,000 kilometres away to Niagara Falls, Ont. After arriving without any family on Sunday, she was relieved to reunite with some of her cousins Monday. 'I remember when I first got to Winnipeg before they asked if I wanted to go someplace else that was more comfortable. My lungs were still filled with all that smoke,' Ms. Blacksmith said by phone. 'All I wanted was for some place I could sleep in. But the children crying loudly there, and the cot in that soccer field's evacuation shelter – I just had no way. I'm so grateful for this warm bed and the warmness they have shown us here." In Saskatchewan, where 19 large fires were active, eight of which were uncontained, Premier Scott Moe said he expects more evacuations this week. The province has recorded 222 wildfires this year – well over its five-year average of 131. Mr. Moe's government has already ordered around 8,000 people from at least 20 communities to flee their properties. On Monday, the areas surrounding Sucker River, Wadin Bay, English Bay, La Ronge and Nemeiben Subdivision were added to that list. The province has not asked for military support like Manitoba because the Canadian Armed Forces have limited firefighting capacity and residents have not yet needed to be air lifted, said Steve Roberts, vice-president of operations at the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. He told reporters at a briefing Monday that Saskatchewan officials also 'have feelers out' for spaces in other provinces, such as Alberta, should evacuees need them. Northern Saskatchewan, far from the fires, has received some rain. 'But we still have a number of days of extreme fire weather in front of us,' Mr. Roberts said. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province is now calling back firefighters who had been sent to other parts of the country. She is restarting her cabinet ministers' emergency management committee to respond to wildfires that she said have grown from about 9,000 hectares to more than 400,000 within the last week. 'The wind has dramatically changed our situation,' Ms. Smith said from Saskatoon, adding Alberta has evacuated nearly 5,000 people so far. But Kevin Hampton, owner of the Coal Branch Hotel in the western Alberta hamlet of Robb, says he felt he had to defy the evacuation orders last week. 'In the past during fires, a lot of nefarious characters have come in the back ways and robbed places,' he said Monday. 'I've got too much skin in the game here.' Communities in British Columbia, meanwhile, were told to be ready to flee at a moment's notice near the Peace River Regional District, which has already been largely evacuated. The province had 71 active fires Monday, with B.C. officials indicating potential for more to start in the southeast and northeast regions this week.
Globe and Mail
3 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.
Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Waterous fund would own more than half of company formed from Strathcona's takeover of MEG Energy
An investment fund led by Strathcona Resources Ltd.'s SCR-T executive chairman will control more than half of the shares of the oil company that would result from Strathcona's $5.9-billion takeover of MEG Energy Corp. MEG-T If Strathcona's hostile bid for the rival oil sands producer is successful, Adam Waterous's Waterous Energy Fund will acquire $662-million of stock in the combined company to put its stake at 51 per cent, according to details of the offer released in the formal bid document on Friday. WEF currently owns 79.6 per cent of Strathcona shares. Strathcona announced its unsolicited cash-and-stock offer for MEG on May 15, saying the two oil sands-producing entities are highly complementary in geography, operations, reserve-life indexes and profit margins. Why Canadian energy is a secret bargain, spurring a hostile takeover bid in the oil sands Mr. Waterous said MEG shareholders would benefit in three ways: through a 9 per cent premium over the value of their shares, as measured when the deal was announced, higher earnings and cash flow per share and an improvement in credit rating to investment-grade status, which will reduce the cost of capital. 'This is the financial Abominable Snowman – often talked about but never seen,' he said in an interview. He pointed out that WEF's participation in the deal, at a cost of $30.92 a share, would represent the largest equity investment in the Canadian oil patch in more than a decade. 'And we think we're going to get private-equity rates of return on that,' he said. Strathcona is offering MEG shareholders 0.62 of a Strathcona share and $4.10 in cash for each MEG share. The bid will remain open until Sept. 15. MEG shares were down 2 per cent at $24.11 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday. Strathcona was up 2 per cent at $29.49, putting the value of its offer at $22.38, suggesting investors are still wagering on a higher offer. Analysts have speculated some of the country's large established oil sands companies may consider riding in as white knights. In a statement on Friday, MEG urged its shareholders not to tender to the Strathcona bid. The takeover target said it had formed a special committee of its board, which will evaluate the offer with the company's financial advisers. It plans to respond by June 16 days with a recommendation. It said it remains committed to its long-term strategy and is confident that it will create value. Officials declined to comment further. According to the bid circular, Strathcona amassed a 9.2 per cent interest in MEG through share purchases in the first and second quarters of this year. Mr. Waterous approached MEG director Jeff McCaig on April 10 to discuss the merits of a potential deal, and on April 28, sent a formal proposal outlining terms and conditions, including the price. On May 13, MEG Chairman Jim McFarland wrote back to say the company was not interested. Strathcona went public with its bid two days later. When they rejected the friendly approach, MEG's directors did not know that Strathcona was close to announcing a series of asset sales to focus its operations on heavy oil and reduce its debt, Mr. Waterous said. Just before announcing its bid, it sold Montney natural gas assets in two deals for total proceeds of $2.84-billion. 'MEG has not yet had the opportunity to evaluate our offer. So this is the first time. Now that they see we are such a lookalike business to them, a bigger look alike business, I think it will be much more straightforward for the board to be able to see the merits of the financial triple-jump,' he said.
