*

Wildfires affect over 344,000 bpd of oil sands production

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Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources ( CNQ ) evacuate workers,

shut

production

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Alberta Premier Smith reports 400,000 hectares burned,

5,000

evacuated

By Amanda Stephenson

CALGARY, June 2 (Reuters) - Wildfires burning in

Canada's oil-producing province of Alberta have affected more

than 344,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, or about

7% of the country's overall crude oil output, according to

Reuters calculations.

At least two thermal oil sands operators south of the

industry hub of Fort McMurray evacuated workers from their sites

over the weekend and shut production as a precaution.

Canadian Natural Resources ( CNQ ) said it evacuated

workers from its Jackfish 1 location and shut in approximately

36,500 bpd of bitumen production.

Cenovus Energy ( CVE ) said it evacuated non-essential

personnel from its Christina Lake oil sands site, and shut in

approximately 238,000 bpd of production.

The company said on Sunday it is not aware of any damage to

its infrastructure and anticipates a full restart of its

Christina Lake operations in the near term.

MEG Energy ( MEGEF ) said on Friday it had evacuated workers

from its Christina Lake site. While production at the site

continues, the company said on Saturday that the fires caused a

power outage that is delaying startup of its Phase 2B

operations, which represent approximately 70,000 barrels per day

of production.

Wildfires have also affected some of Alberta's conventional

oil-and-gas production. A blaze burning near the town of Swan

Hills in the northern part of the province forced Aspenleaf

Energy to shut in about 4,000 bpd of production last week.

Canada produces about 4.9 million barrels of oil per day.

Alberta has 49 active fires and there are 24 active fires in

Manitoba and 16 in Saskatchewan, according to provincial data.

In parts of Minnesota and North Dakota, air quality reached

unhealthy levels on Monday, according to the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency's AirNow page. In 2023, Canadian wildfires

blanketed much of the U.S. East Coast in smoke, forcing millions

of Americans to stay indoors.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Monday that some

400,000 hectares (988,422 acres) have now burned in the

province, up from about 9,000 as of last week.

She said nearly 5,000 people have been evacuated, adding

that the government is restarting its emergency management

cabinet committee out of concerns the situation in the province

is worsening.

"We've got to be able to respond in a way that is going to

be rapid," Smith told reporters in Saskatoon.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says that as of June

1, a total of 1.4 million hectares have burned so far across

Canada. Last week, Manitoba urged 17,000 people to evacuate due

to fires in the province's remote north.

Wildfires have hit oil and gas production in Canada several

times in the past decade.

Last year, Suncor Energy ( SU ), Canada's second-largest

oil sands producer, temporarily curtailed production at its

Firebag complex due to a nearby blaze.

In May of 2023, companies shut in at least 319,000 barrels

of oil equivalent per day, or 3.7% of Canada's total production,

as more than 100 wildfires burned in Alberta.

In 2016, thousands of oil sands workers were evacuated as

a monster wildfire destroyed part of the community of Fort

McMurray, forcing companies to reduce their oil output by a

million barrels per day.