Crude oil production in Alberta during the month of June fell to its lowest level in seven years due primarily to maintenance at various oil-sands sites across the western Canadian province.
Alberta’s total oil output in June declined 21% to 2.71 million barrels a day, the lowest level since June 2016, when oil-sands producers were recovering from wildfires that shutdown about one million barrels a day of capacity.
The decline also stemmed from the fact that data collected by the Alberta Energy Regulator
didn’t include June production from Suncor Energy (SU), which is one of Canada’s top oil producers.
Suncor’s June production from wells, including its Firebag and McKay River oil-sands sites, wasn’t included in the June data.
It’s not clear why Suncor’s data was excluded. The Alberta Energy Regulator is referring questions about the matter to Suncor.
The company was dealing with a cyberattack that began in late June and negatively impacted its operations, including the processing of debit and credit transactions at its network of Petro Canada gas stations.
The biggest production decline in June came from oil-sands mines, which saw output plummet 48% to 712,000 barrels a day. Total oil-sands output fell 25% to 2.15 million barrels a day.
In all, oil output in Alberta during June of this year was even lower than during the depths of the 2020 pandemic when production was cut substantially due to low prices.
Oil-sands mines including Imperial Oil’s (IMO) Kearl and Suncor’s majority-owned Syncrude Canada mines were undergoing maintenance last quarter, said the energy regulator.
The Alberta Energy Regulator’s data showed some oil producers recovering from disruptions caused by wildfires across the province.
Suncor Energy’s stock has decreased 4% over the last 12 months to trade at $41.26 a share.
