Alberta wildfire seen not to impact oil, gas production

A wildfire that broke out over the weekend in north and central Alberta has not impacted any oil and gas production, with the forecast of rainfall widely anticipated to provide necessary relief from rising temperatures, industry stakeholders said June 1.

The wildfire danger level in the Lac La Biche area is now moderate, the Alberta government said in an announcement, noting the area is expected to see heavy rainfall over the next few days.

This will aid firefighters in their suppression efforts, it said, noting there are currently eight active wildfires in Lac La Biche, of which six are classified as held and two as being under control.

In the Fort McMurray area, there are three active wildfires of which one is classified as out of control, one is being held and one is under control, the provincial government announcement said.

However, for the Peace River forest area, the wildfire danger level has been categorized as high due to the increased temperature and drying vegetation, it said.

At present, there are no active wildfires in the Peace River area.

Fort McMurray, Lac La Biche and Peace River are home to Alberta's oil sands production that was impacted in previous wildfires.

No comments were available from Suncor Energy, Cenovus, Canadian Natural Resources and Imperial Oil.

There has been no report on any shut-ins or curtailment in output, said Celina Hwang, S&P Global Energy CERA analyst in the Calgary office.

Natural gas production has been declining, but that is not unusual, as June always tends to dip a bit, fellow CERA analyst Ian Archer said separately, noting there are no reports so far of shut-ins by gas producers in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

Alberta has been experiencing torrential rain since May 30, oil pipeline operator Enbridge spokesperson Gina Sutherland said in an email.

"People are more concerned about flooding than fires, and at the moment we're due to get about 100 mm of rain before it eventually stops on Wednesday [June 3]," Sutherland said. "Our operations have not been impacted by the weather or by any fires yet this year."

Western Canadian crude oil production saw a reduction of 186,000 barrels/day in 2023, 85,000 b/d in 2024 and "essentially no reduction" in 2025, according to CERA.

These reductions were for the period January to April each year, it said, adding this includes all production from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan of light, condensate and heavy (including oil sands) barrels, it said.

Canada's total oil production is forecast to reach 5.527 million b/d in 2026, CERA said in its June report.

Meanwhile, the wildfires had minimal impact on the Western Canadian Select pricing.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed WCS Hardisty at a $13.20/b discount to the July WTI CMA on June 1, down 10 cents/b from May 29.