Natural gas use in Alberta’s oil sands has rebounded from a late May low (blue line inside of black dashed rectangle in chart below) when wildfires in the oil sands region forced precautionary shutdowns of several bitumen production sites (see our Analyst Insight of June 2). Using data from RBN’s Canadian NatGas Billboard gas use fell from ~2.75 Bcf on May 28 to a low of 2.44 Bcf on May 30 (red text and arrow) as Cenovus Energy announced on May 29 that it had suspended bitumen production activities at its Christina Lake site (~238 Mb/d) as did Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) for a portion of its Jackfish site (~36.5 Mb/d). Subsequently, CNRL announced that production at Jackfish had restarted on June 2, while Cenovus confirmed on June 10 that its Christina Lake site had also restarted operations earlier this month. To that end, gas use has risen to ~2.82 Bcf (black text and arrow) as of June 8 and higher than before the shutdowns.
Featured Articles
- Analyst Insight
Cenovus Shuts Down Christina Lake Oil Sands Production Due to Wildfire Threat
Wildfires have forced Cenovus to undertake a precautionary shut down of its Christina Lake production affecting ~240 Mb/d of bitumen output.
- Analyst Insight
Alberta’s Crude Oil Production Rebounds Strongly in June
Alberta's June production roared back from two-year lows in May thanks to big gains in synthetic and non-upgraded bitumen output.
- Analyst Insight
Alberta’s May Crude Oil Production Sets Two-Year Low
Alberta's May crude oil output took a big tumble versus April thanks to wildfires and turnarounds.
