Adds details for other producers
The Canadian province of Alberta has declared a state of emergency as wildfires led oil and natural gas producers to shut in at least 319,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) output and forced more than 25,000 residents to evacuate their homes.
There are at least 94 active wildfires in Alberta with 29 of those considered out of control, according to the province, with the west-central and northwest regions being hardest hit. Nearly 1mn acres of forest area has burned and more than two dozen communities have been forced to flee amid hot and dry conditions.
Producers drilling for light crude, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the area between Edmonton and the Rocky Mountains have left as a precaution, temporarily shutting in production at dozens of sites. In March total Alberta crude production equaled 3.86mn b/d.
Crescent Point Energy's Kaybob Duvernay shale assets west of Edmonton were taken offline, representing 45,000 boe/d, the company said.
NuVista Energy said it has taken 40,000 boe/d of production near Grande Prairie offline after shutting in and depressurizing all operations near fires in the area.
Vermilion Energy has shut in approximately 30,000 boe/d in west central Alberta, while Pipestone Energy has curtailed production by 20,000 boe/d to the north in the Grande Prairie area.
Paramount Resources has shut in about 50,000 boe/d of production in both the Grande Prairie and Kaybob regions since 5 May.
Baytex Energy has curtailed 10,000 boe/d of sales volume, 70pc of which is crude, on account of third-party infrastructure being shut. About 60pc of the curtailed volumes are being directed into storage, the company said. Most of Baytex's production in Alberta comes from the Peace River area, northeast of Grande Prairie.
Whitecap Resources said its assets in northeast Alberta and northwest British Columbia have also been affected. The company did not disclose how much volume was shut, but said the move was "proactive" because of close proximity to the wildfires, while some output was dialed back because of third-party interruptions.
Cenovus Energy has shut in 85,000 boe/d of production — mostly dry gas — at the company's Rainbow Lake, Kaybob-Edson, Elmworth-Wapiti and Clearwater operations.
Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL), the country's largest petroleum producer, has shut-in 39,000 boe/d of production without disclosing sites affected.
Cenovus and CNRL are among the country's largest oil sands producers, but those operations are in the northeast part of the province and appear to not be at risk so far. There are several active wildfires in the oil sands region, but all are considered under control.
Chevron Canada's Kaybob Duvernay operations are "fully shut in," a spokesperson told Argus today after evacuating personnel on 6 May. The liquids-rich operations is near Fox Creek in northwest Alberta midway between Edmonton and Grande Prairie. Chevron's 70pc interest in East Kaybob in the Duvernay formation gave about 22,000 b/d of condensate and NGLs in 2021.
Tourmaline Oil has shut in nine natural gas processing facilities in the South and West Deep Basin area, citing "rapidly" emerging wildfires.
Natural gas producer Pieridae shut in some compression sites and wells in fire-affected areas.
Ovintiv Canada has not needed to shut in its operations but continues to monitor the situation very closely, a company spokesperson told Argus today. The Denver-based company has condensate-rich production southwest of Grande Prairie.
Pipelines curtail operations
Midstream companies have also been affected by the fires to varying degrees.
Tidewater Midstream evacuated its 180mn cf/d Brazeau River Complex southwest of Edmonton on 4 May.
Pembina Pipeline has shut down its Saturn I and II gas plants near Hinton, Alberta, and the Duvernay Complex, west of Fox Creek. These facilities have a combined 443mn cf/d of processing capacity, net to Pembina.
Pembina's Wapiti Gas Plant, KA Plant and K3 Plant, along with the 20-inch Peace Pipeline from Fox Creek to Edmonton were all temporarily shut down but have since been restored.
Trans Mountain's 300,000 b/d pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, British Columbia, is running as normal but the operator has deployed some mitigation measures including a perimeter sprinkler at its Edson Pump Station, west of Edmonton.
The NOVA Gas Transmission (NGTL) system is operating as normal, according to TC Energy. The 15,000-mile system ships natural gas across Alberta and northeast BC.
Wildfires last affected Alberta production in 2019, but the most devastating was three years earlier when fires forced mass evacuations from the heart of Canada's oil sands, destroying parts of the city of Fort McMurray. Wildfires in the spring of 2016 burned 1.4mn acres in the Fort McMurray area and knocked about 1mn b/d of crude output offline.
