FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — As the urban centre at the heart of Canada's oilsands industry, Fort McMurray has seen more than its share of ups and downs.
The oil industry permeates every aspect of life here. Every morning, oil workers clad in blue-and-yellow coveralls line up at the local Tim Hortons for double-doubles, and diesel trucks and big rigs churn up dust on their way out to industrial work sites. The airport gift shop sells"Canada's Oilsands" sweatshirts and local rec centres and educational facilities are emblazoned with the names of their oil company sponsors.
The Trans Mountain pipeline, which was bought six years ago by the federal government, is Canada's only oil pipeline to the West Coast. The expansion will increase its capacity from approximately 300,000 barrels per day currently to 890,000 barrels per day, improving access to export markets for Canadian oil companies.
That shortage of pipeline space, combined with refinery and transportation costs, is the reason Canadian oil producers typically take a price discount on their product compared with their U.S. competitors. A recent TD Economics report suggested Canadian oil production this year could grow by between six and 10 per cent year-over-year, the equivalent of between 300,000 and 500,000 barrels per day.
Cenovus, for example, plans to grow its production by 150,000 barrels a day over the next five years. Many people's mental image of Fort McMurray is synonymous with the period when the community was a bustling boom town defined by heavy traffic, high housing costs and money that seemed to grow on trees.
But after a decade of layoffs and oil company consolidation, the atmosphere in town is not the same, she said. The community has also had to contend with the 2016 wildfire that destroyed approximately 2,400 homes and buildings in Fort McMurray, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a 2020 flood that forced thousands of residents from their homes and caused more than $520 million in insured damages.
The industry believes it can continue to grow while reducing its environmental impact. Six of the largest oilsands companies have banded together to form what they call the Pathways Alliance, through which they are proposing to build what would be one of the largest carbon capture and storage projects in the world.