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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery added 54 cents to $48.62 on the New York Merc, while Brent for July added 26 cents to $48.61 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $12.05 to WTI ($36.57), up from a discount of $12.10. Natural gas for June lost 7.5 cents to $1.98. The TSX energy index added 1.08 points to close at 184.75.

Oil sands producers around Fort McMurray have been cleared for re-entry into work camps that were evacuated because of a massive wildfire. The fire is estimated to have cut Canadian output by over one million barrels a day. Around 8,000 workers were forced to flee the flames last week, on top of the nearly 90,000 residents of the city of Fort McMurray who were evacuated earlier this month. Authorities began lifting the evacuation orders for some of the oil sands work camps late Friday. For the remaining camps, a "phased re-entry" was authorized yesterday. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU: $35.39), north of Fort McMurray, says it has started moving employees back to the Wood Buffalo region to support a "staged restart" of operations. Syncrude and ConocoPhillips have also started the process of bringing back workers, spokesmen told Bloomberg. South of Fort McMurray, sites belonging to Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH: $1.35) and Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd. have been scheduled for re-entry, said authorities, though they did not specify which sites. Athabasca later clarified that it has resumed operations at its Hangingstone project (which had been shut down since May 5) and expects to reach normal operating levels "over the next several weeks." It remains unclear when other affected sites will resume full production. There have been no reports of any major damage to production facilities, meaning that repair times should be minimal, but ramp-up times could take one to three weeks or more, depending on the type of operation. The sites must also be inspected by forestry and health officials before all the workers can return.

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