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Alberta Wildfires Force 350,000-Barrel-a-Day Oil Sands Shutdown

Inspections after evacuations have postponed restarts despite operators finding no damage to key facilities

Overview

  • Forty-nine active fires have burned over 4,800 square kilometres in Alberta, with half still uncontrolled.
  • Major producers Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and MEG Energy have evacuated non-essential staff and halted roughly 350,000 barrels per day of heavy crude output.
  • Cenovus reports no infrastructure damage at its Christina Lake operation and anticipates a full restart in the near term.
  • The production outage tightens an already scarce global supply of heavy crude and could increase pressure on U.S. refineries and gasoline prices.
  • Oil companies and authorities are coordinating evacuations, safety protocols and ongoing fire monitoring across Alberta and adjacent provinces.