The largest mover of oil sands crude in the fire-ravaged Fort McMurray area is restoring operations to its pipelines, although its Chief Executive Officer cautions that it won’t be without complications.
The fires in northeastern Alberta halted the movement of an estimated 900,000 barrels of crude a day on the Enbridge Inc. system, according to CEO Al Monaco. The pipelines that connect bitumen resources to key North American oil markets, all of which run underground, were not damaged in the fires that continue to blaze. However, some Enbridge above-ground valve sites were damaged and power outages continue to be an issue, Mr. Monaco said during his company’s recent first-quarter earnings call.