Suncor Shuts Down Alberta Oil Sands Project Amid Wildfires
Alberta’s Forestry and Parks Minister, Todd Loewen, announced that Suncor has temporarily shut down its Firebag oil sands project due to ongoing wildfires. The Firebag site, with a production capacity of 215,000 barrels of crude oil per day, will remain on standby, ready to resume operations as soon as conditions allow.
Currently, Alberta is grappling with 60 active wildfires, posing a very high to extreme danger, according to Minister Loewen.
In the vicinity of Suncor’s Firebag site, two other oil sands projects remain unaffected by the wildfires. These include the Kearl site, operated by Imperial Oil, and the Sunrise site, managed by Cenovus Energy.
Last month, Alberta authorities issued an extreme wildfire danger alert for areas near the province’s major oil production sites. Some production was halted but was quickly restored.
Despite the challenges, Alberta’s oil producers recorded a significant increase in production in May. Oil sands operators produced 3.68 million barrels per day, an increase of 254,000 barrels per day compared to May 2023.
The Alberta Energy Regulator recently projected a growth in the province’s oil production by over 17% by 2033, reaching 4 million barrels daily. This growth is expected to come primarily from in situ bitumen operations rather than traditional oil sands mines.
Afshin Honarvar, the chief economist of the Alberta Energy Regulator, emphasized the ongoing importance of conventional energy sources. “In our opinion, the conventional forms of energy — I’m talking about oil, gas, bitumen — should continue and will be part of the energy mix during the energy transition,” Honarvar said, as quoted by CTV News.