Canada PM Trudeau heads for Alberta as wildfires rage (updated)

Paramount Resources (Pre-Merger)

15/05/2023 17:13

(Adds details from Alberta officials in paragraphs 3-5, 11 and
details energy production impact in paragraphs 7-9)
       OTTAWA, May 15 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
on Monday was headed to Alberta to meet with soldiers fighting
wildfires that worsened over the weekend, forcing evacuations
and hitting energy production in Canada's main oil-producing
province over the weekend.
    More than 100 wildfires have raged this month, at one point
pushing more than 30,000 people out of their homes while oil and
gas producers shut in at least 319,000 barrels of oil equivalent
per day (boepd), or 3.7% of national production.
    Officials in Alberta expect hot and dry weather conditions
to continue after they caused an upsurge in wildfires and a rise
in home evacuation orders.
        "Our peak burning period, which is when the temperatures
are at their highest and the fuels are at their driest, is still
in front of us," Alberta Wildfires official Josee St-Onge said
at a briefing Sunday afternoon.
  
        "It's too soon to say when we're going to see the peak
of this wildfire season. ... We are going to continue to be
challenged."
  
        By Sunday afternoon, 89 fires were burning across
Alberta, with 25 considered out of control and more than 19,000
evacuees. That was up from 74 fires and about 16,500 evacuees on
Friday.
        Benchmark Canadian heavy crude prices tightened last
week to multi-month highs on concerns about the wildfires.
  
        Late on Sunday, Paramount Resources  POU.TO  said that
due to the fires a third-party gas processing plant and some
Paramount fields were shut, and it had curtailed 45,000 boepd.
  
        Vermilion Energy  VET.TO  said on Monday it had restored
60% of the 30,000 boepd that it previously shut in.
  
    The Canadian army has been helping with firefighting and
recovery efforts in the province since Thursday, and more troops
are expected to join in the coming days, according to the
Alberta government.
    St-Onge said officials expect more challenging wildfire
weather. "Conditions will remain hot and dry and windy in the
coming days."
    Trudeau was scheduled to be in Alberta's capital Edmonton,
where he will meet with Canadian Armed Forces personnel, before
leaving for Seoul to meet South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol,
according to the prime minister's itinerary.

 (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Anna Mehler Paperny in
Toronto and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg editing by Deepa Babington
and David Gregorio)
 ((ismail.shakil@tr.com;))