Pall remains over Canadian oil sands after wildfires

Fort McMurray, Canada

ONE year after massive wildfires swept through Alberta province in Canada's worst natural disaster in history, the future of the oil sands - which contain a third of the world's oil reserves - remains bleak.

Persistently low oil prices have forced companies to cut costs, and several have gone as far as to stop processing the region's heavy crude and bitumen, which is more expensive and harder to extract than typical light crude.