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Raging fires stop oil and gas operations
Hundreds evacuated from facilities
By Dina O'Meara / Calgary Herald / May 17, 2011

Suspension of oil and gas production is spreading across northern Alberta as wildfires rage out of control.

Oil and gas producers Monday evacuated workers and closed heavy oil facilities, pipelines and processing plants as emergency teams battled wind-fuelled fires that now cover more than 30,000 hectares.

Canadian Natural Resources pulled 1,300 workers from two camps associated with its Horizon oilsands project outside of Fort McMurray as flames burned within 150 metres of one of its lodges.

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Operations at Canadian Natural's Horizon oilsands project have been at a virtual standstill since an explosion ripped through its upgrader in January, injuring five workers.

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SLAVE LAKE FIRES CAUSE FORCE MAJEURE SHUTTING IN EXALL ENERGY CORPORATION'S MARTEN MOUNTAIN PRODUCTION
Canada NewsWire / May 16, 2011

During the mandatory evacuation Exall field operators were able to shut in all of the Company's Marten Mountain production for precautionary reasons.

Effective Monday May 16th, Exall received Force Majeure notification from Enerchem International Inc., the purchaser of Exall's production from Marten Mountain. The notice cited that "Due to the forest fire situation in and around the Town of Slave Lake and the mandatory evacuation order issued by Alberta Sustainable Resources and Development, Enerchem International Inc. has been required to suspend all turnaround activities and shut down and secure the Slave Lake Plant site until further notice."

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Wildfires wreak havoc, evacuation in Alberta’s oil patch
CARRIE TAIT / The Globe and Mail / May 16, 2011

Energy companies are halting oil and gas production and evacuating employees as unprecedented wildfires rip through northern Alberta and threaten to spread to key industry projects.

Penn West Exploration halted production of between 25,000 and 30,000 daily barrels of oil at operations threatened by a number of fires. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has evacuated a major work camp near its Horizon oil sands operation, and Cenovus Energy Inc. may be forced to curtail some production as early as Tuesday as fires frustrate efforts to restart a pipeline that ships the company’s crude.

... Meanwhile, Cenovus, another oil sands powerhouse, is also preparing for action at its Pelican Lake facility about 90 kilometres northeast of Slave Lake. Because the Plains All American Pipeline LP Rainbow line is shut down due to a previous spill and now further hampered by the fires, Cenovus will run out of storage space Tuesday afternoon if the pipeline does not resume operations. About 22,000 barrels of oil per day will be shut in, a Cenovus spokeswoman said.

... Imperial Oil Ltd. has moved about 250 contract employees who were building a water facility back to one of its camps. While work on the river water intake facility has stopped, it has not affected work at Imperial's Kearl oils sands site, which is also under construction, said Jon Harding, a spokesperson for Imperial. The water facility is about 37 kilometres northwest of the main site.

... Exall Energy Corp., a junior oil and gas player, has also shut in 921 barrels of oil per day at its Marten Mountain operation, it said in a statement Monday. Enerchem International Inc. on Monday issued a “force majeure,” which left Exall without a buyer for its Marten Mountain crude. The producer is now searching for other ways to transport the oil, including trucking, to others who may buy the oil. However, trucking in northern Alberta is questionable because the fires have closed a number of highways.

... Devon Energy Corp. has shut in a small amount of its production in northern Alberta, a spokesperson for the company said. The fires and the complications they caused, the spokesperson noted, are all part of doing business in northern Alberta.

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Oil production tanks in Alberta as wildfires threaten facilities
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE AND CARRIE TAIT / The Globe and Mail / May 17, 2011

A dramatic drop in oil production around Slave Lake looms as major energy companies run out of storage space owing to the numerous wildfires hampering shipping routes and construction sites and threatening facilities in northern Alberta.

Cenovus Energy Inc. on Tuesday halved its oil production at its Pelican Lake project to about 11,000 barrels a day, down from 22,000 barrels a day. At this rate, its storage tanks will be full early Thursday and it will be forced to completely shut down production there, Rhona DelFrari, a spokesperson for the company, said Tuesday. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is facing even larger cuts in the same region, and may soon shut in production of roughly 40,000 barrels of oil a day at Pelican Lake.

Both companies rely on the Rainbow pipeline to ship crude out of the area, but the southern part of that line has been turned off because of the forest fires, and the northern part has been shut down since late April because of a major spill.

“The region has shut off the power for safety reasons. So when there’s no power, the pipeline can’t run,” CNRL president Steve Laut said on Tuesday.

... About 100 wildfires are burning in Alberta, with 23 of those out of control, the province said Tuesday. The blazes have burned about 105,000 hectares of land. The Slave Lake region has been particularly hard hit, with 15 wildfires burning out of control there.

... A string of oil and gas outfits reported shutdowns and evacuations Monday.

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FACTBOX-Oil production shut in by Alberta wildfires
Reuters / May 20, 2011

Wildfires raging through northern Alberta have forced oil companies to chop production. More than 100,000 barrels per day are shut in, while smoke from the blazes has also prompted companies to evacuate staff from oil sands operations.

Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the United States, exporting more than 2 million barrels a day. The amount shut in by fires and outages is a small percentage of that.