Canadian Natural Resources Limited says production at their Horizon mine was cut in half last month, after a maintenance shutdown and problems getting the plant going again.

CNRL says that output fell to about 50,000 barrels a day in August, down from around 93,300 in July.

The maintenance was for a thinning pipe wall in the amine unit, which required a plant-wide shutdown to repair.

New harmonized sales taxes in some provinces pushed up Canada's inflation rate last month. Canada's annual inflation rate rose by half of a point in July to 1.8 per cent. Statistics Canada says changes in sales taxes in Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia affected consumer prices last month

The governments of British Columbia and Ontario introduced new harmonized sales taxes on July 1st. Nova Scotia also bumped up its HST by two percentage points. The Bank of Canada had forecasted the new taxes would increase inflation in the coming months.

Prices were higher across the board, with increases in seven of the eight major components. Only clothing and footwear registered a decrease. Energy prices were up 7.9 per cent from where they were a year earlier. Within the energy price index, the cost of electricity rose 9.8 per cent in July.

Calgary-based Enbridge says they're getting set to test out a pipeline that leaked last month. As much as four million litres of oil leaked into Michigan's Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan. It's not clear when oil can resume flowing through the pipeline, between Indiana and Ontario.

Suncor Energy Inc. announced today the release of its 2010 Report on Sustainability - a comprehensive review of the company's environmental, social and economic performance for the year. The report, themed "Energy. Innovation. Commitment," outlines Suncor's performance in 2009 and provides key five-year performance trends.

Environmental goals and 2009 performance highlights

Suncor has outlined four environmental performance goals:

- Reduce fresh water consumption by 12 per cent by 2015;

- Increase reclamation of disturbed land area by 100 per cent by 2015;

- Improve energy efficiency by 10 per cent by 2015;

- Reduce air emissions by 10 per cent by 2015.

Please note: all of the proposed reductions are absolute, except for energy efficiency which is intensity-based:

Performance highlights from the report include:

- Significant strides in water management in 2009.

-- An 11 per cent reduction in fresh water withdrawal from 2008

- Improved tailings management at oil sands mining operations

-- New TRO(TM) (Tailings Reduction Operations) process helps transform fluid tailings ponds into solid landscapes.

- Continued progress on climate change action plan.

-- A 53 per cent decrease in mineable oil sands greenhouse gas emission intensity from 1990 levels.

Calgary based Black Diamond has been awarded a $10 million contract, to provide a 558 bed camp to Devon's Pike Project.

The oilsands project is south of town and worth $10 million. Construction starts September 1st and it should be ready by the beginning of November.