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Recent
Alberta
forest fires have negative consequences in the United States. Yes, apart from the obvious damages in Alberta, Canada, the U.S. Midwest refineries have been affected by the standstill of the oil production in Alberta. Also, experts warn about the increase of gasoline and fuel prices in several states of the country.
This is very sad for American commerce, but also for the environment.
Trees are an essential contribution to our lives and this forest fire is bad for the planet and us
. So, let’s see what happened in Albert in detail and its consequences.
Alberta, Canada
Alberta is one of the ten provinces of Canada, specifically in western Canada between British Columbia and Saskatchewan. It also borders the United States to the South (Montana).
This Canadian city is known for its beautiful nature, wildfires, ranches, cities like Edmonton (its capital), oil and energy. The later ones are very important for the topic of the article, so let’s explain them.
Oil production in Alberta is one of the most important in Canada because of its large oil sands and natural gas reserves, and the many refineries and oil companies are based here.
Forest fires
Recently, Canada has been suffering from many forest fires, mostly in Alberta, and they have been a nightmare because they are very difficult to control. At some point, there were 103 out of control fires.
Not only are these forest fires very harmful for the environment and also the citizens who must be evacuated to be safe, but also other activities like oil industry are affected.
Alberta and the United States
This city is known for its oil fields being the largest in Canada, that’s why Canada is one of the main oil suppliers for the United States – from all the oil the U.S. buys to other countries 25% comes from Canada.
This oil is a special one called heavy crude oil which needs to be refined in specific fabrics, refineries. The U.S. have these fabrics in places like Illinois, Indiana, Texas, New Mexico and California.
The forest fires in Alberta could have negative consequences on the oil operations between Canada and the U.S.
Gasoline in the United States
Several Canadian companies have temporarily stopped all their oil field operations as a safety measure, which translates into about 7% of Canada’s oil production. How is this negative for gasoline in the U.S.? Well, the less oil production, the less oil to refine which can be the cause for a future increase of gasoline prices. If this standstill from Canadian companies lasts for weeks, it can lead to:
- Higher price of the gallon of gasoline, mostly in west and central states in the U.S.
- Quicker and more often increase in gasoline prices.
- Logistic issues because more transport will be needed to get oil from other suppliers and make up for the lack of oil.
Let’s talk about numbers
Recent data from this 5th of June show gasoline prices in the U.S. are $3.146 per gallon. We could say this is a normal amount, but be careful because if forest fires in Alberta keep going gasoline prices could increase in the next few days or weeks.
We are all connected
As you can see we are talking about fires in a different country from the U.S., because of the trade activity between countries. We all need something from other people and countries, so we shouldn’t ignore what’s happening in other places because it can have consequences where we live.
Remember, we might be far away from each other, but, in the end, we share the same planet and resources. So let’s care for each other!
