It is a bit ironic that Alberta, a leading petroleum production region, is having diesel shortages. The apparent reason is that three refineries in the provinces diesel supply-chain decided to shut down for a month of maintenance at the same time. "Maintenance" is probably another term for an attempt by some big market players to influence the market cost of diesel? Alberta uses an enormous amount of diesel to extract unconventional crude oil so that sector is getting worried. The prosperous province of Alberta is an economy unto itself, however, truckers need to deliver goods through that province and truckers are getting increasingly worried about whether they can find an open diesel pump en route through this region. Could shut east-west down food delivery routes in Canada if the situation escalates.

One estimate is that it takes around 30-35% of a barrel of oil to produce a barrel of unconvential crude oil. If you are producing alot of oil, this means you are consuming alot of it as well. The shortages are also leading to a jump in diesel theft.