Since the beginning of summer, just under 1,000 wildfires have been reported in Alberta, Canada. The cost of combating these fires, along with associated financial losses and emergency financial assistance provided to those evacuated because of them, is estimated at $980 million, according to the latest financial data.

Of this amount, about $750 million has been spent directly on fire fighting. The total uninsured financial losses amounted to $175 million. However, the province says that the federal government will cover just under half of the bill under disaster financial assistance agreements.

In May, the province announced the launch of emergency financial assistance for residents who were forced to leave their homes for at least seven days due to evacuation orders resulting from the fires. The cost of this exceptional program was $55 million.

The expenses related to the fires do not affect the budget surplus, as they are part of a $1.5 billion amount allocated for emergency expenses, especially in cases of natural disasters.

As a result, despite these unexpected additional expenses, new Finance Minister Nate Horner still expects Alberta to achieve a budget surplus of $2.4 billion. This surplus is slightly higher than that predicted by his predecessor, Travis Toews, when he presented the budget last February.

Oil revenues exceeded expectations, even though the average price per barrel was lower than the province had expected for the first quarter of the fiscal year. This improvement is linked to a smaller-than-anticipated price differential between U.S. light oil, known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and Canadian heavy oil (WCS).

Alberta also hopes that the startup of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, which was purchased by the federal government in 2018, will increase its oil exports.

The state-owned company managing the operations hopes that the expanded pipeline will be inaugurated in the early months of 2024, but complexities in the business may delay its startup date.

Alberta authorities clarify that natural gas revenues are $1.2 billion lower than what was included in the budget, particularly due to falling prices and the impact of wildfires on the province's production.