“The wildfire situation in Alberta remains extreme.”-Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta

The wildfires in Alberta, Canada, are not only destroying homes, and even towns, but oil fields as well.  The fires are adding to already damaged oil production in Canada.

This year, most oil producers in Canada are dealing with clean ups of major oil spills (ignored by main stream media) and explosions of sand oil fields (also ignored by main stream media).  On top of that, and the fires in Alberta, some oil fields are under water because of flooding in Manitoba.

Oil producer Penn West says their oil production is down by 40,000 barrels per day, and that’s before the fires shut down their operation in Alberta.

The Rainbow pipeline (run by Plains All American Pipeline LP) in Alberta, is closed because of a massive oil spill earlier this year, but clean up of the spill is halted because of the wildfires.  How long will the wildfires go once they hit the oil?

Reuters reported that at least half a dozen Canadian pipelines developed leaks this year.  This is either a case of shoddy maintenance by Canadian companies, or sabotage.

The result of the explosions, pipeline spills, flooding and now fires, is causing several Canadian refiners to shut down.  Operators of the Pelican Lake plant say they will have to shut down if they don’t get oil soon.  The Marten Mountain plant is already shut down.