Alberta Wildfires Prompt Evacuations

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Wildfire season in the Canadian Rockies is underway, with parts of oil-rich Alberta under evacuation orders, but the energy sector has so far been spared.

"All residents of Loon Lake are asked to leave the area immediately," the government's Alberta Wildfire website said in an emergency alert issued Thursday morning. "Gather all important documents, medications and clothes to last at least three days."

Click on the image at right for an Alberta Wildfire map of the fire-impacted areas.

Last year's wildfire season got off to an early start, with parts of the municipality of Wood Buffalo, located near oil-rich Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, placed under evacuation orders in March.

Fires later torched the resort town of Jasper and the surrounding Jasper National Park in Alberta. The provincial government said it would provide as much as C$159 million (US$110 million) to support rebuilding efforts in Jasper.

Several other evacuation orders are in place for parts of northern Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan. Alberta's government said about 31,000 hectares of land have been torched so far this year. Of the active fires, less than half of them are under control.

The impact on the energy sector in 2024 was minimal relative to the past. Cenovus Energy (Calgary, Alberta) called on non-essential staff to leave its Sunrise project, just outside of Fort McMurray, due to fires raging from the Firebag complex, but saw no major operational impacts.

Suncor Energy (Calgary) last year was the only company to experience an actual production issue, briefly closing its 215,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Firebag oil sands operation.

Data from Alberta Wildfire show Fort McMurray has avoided any major wildfires so far this year. IIR Energy, meanwhile, finds no immediate threat to provincial refineries.

Most regional operations appear normal. On Thursday, IIR Energy issued an alert to clients notifying them that planned maintenance from April at Suncor's 129,500-BBL/d refinery in Edmonton was completed.

In an e-mail to The Canadian Press, meanwhile, Canadian Natural Resources (Calgary) said it was monitoring blazes in northern Alberta that are close to its oil and natural gas operations, but there have been no reported problems yet.

The 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive on record, with more than 16.5 million hectares--or some 64,000 square miles--lost. A typical wildfire season leaves 2.5 million hectares destroyed.

In 2023, more than 235,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes, while wildfires in the region have in the past curtailed about 1 million BBL/d in oil production. Smoke from the blazes can be readily seen in parts of the U.S.

Rich in natural resources, Alberta's government expects crude oil production to increase 17% from 2022 levels by this year, to average 569,600 BBL/d. Natural gas production is expected to increase from 11 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2022 to 12.1 Bcf/d by 2032.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).