Wildfires across Alberta have prompted a state of emergency in the Canadian province, with the blazes forcing oil and natural gas operators to shut in production and more than 25,000 residents evacuated from their homes.
There are at least 103 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 more than 145,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) production capacity.
Crescent Point Energy's Kaybob Duvernay shale assets west of Edmonton were taken offline, representing 45,000 boe/d, the company said.
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.
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 also shut in some conventional production in the area without disclosing which assets were affected or how much volume was offline. Cenovus has operations in the Kaybob Edson area, west of Edmonton.
Cenovus is one of 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.
Tourmaline Oil has shut in nine natural gas processing facilities in the South and West Deep Basin area, citing "rapidly" emerging wildfires.
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.
Province-wide crude production in March reached a four-month high at 3.86mn b/d, the Alberta Energy Regulator reported last week.
