Canadian oil sands companies evacuate workers because of wildfire threat

MEG Energy, a Canadian oil sands firm, said that it had evacuated non-essential workers from its Christina Lake facility in northern Alberta because of wildfires burning there.

The company has said that it will not reduce its oil production on the site. It is located 150 km (93 miles south) of Fort McMurray, the hub for oil sands.

The wildfires in Canada's oil producing province of Alberta affected several companies' operations this week. Cenovus said that it would reduce the number of non-essential workers at its Foster Creek plant as a precaution because wildfires are raging near Chipewyan Lake.

As a precaution, Aspenleaf Energy halted operations in the Swan Hills area of the province and shut down approximately 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company announced this on Monday.

In the last decade, wildfires have affected oil and gas production in Canada.

Alberta's wildfires will burn more than 100 times in May 2023. This means that companies will have to shut down at least 319,000 boepd or 3.7% of Canada’s total production.

In 2016, thousands were evacuated from Fort McMurray as a wildfire destroyed a large part of the town. This forced companies to cut their oil production by one million barrels a day. (Reporting and editing by Bill Berkrot in Calgary)

(source: Reuters)