Production curtailed as wildfire burns out of control near Suncor's Firebag oilsands site

Suncor Energy has curtailed production at its Firebag oilsands project in northern Alberta as a precaution due to an out-of-control wildfire burning nearby.

The company said it is monitoring the situation. 

"In response to wildfires north of Firebag, we initiated our wildfire response plan. This included the temporary curtailment of some production and a move to essential personnel only at site," a Suncor spokesperson said in a statement Thursday night.

"The facility will be kept in a state that maintains readiness to resume full operations as soon as possible once it is safe to do so."

Suncor said there is currently no risk to its other operations or the Firebag airport.

Several wildfires near the Firebag River are being managed together as the Firebag Complex, Alberta Wildfire said in an update Thursday.

All are classified as being held, except for one, which is classified as out of control.

The wildfire, which as of Friday morning had grown to 12,000 hectares in size, is about 70 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray. 

But it is significantly closer to several oilpatch facilities: it's about eight kilometres northeast of Suncor's Firebag site, 14 km northeast of Suncor's Firebag airport and 16 km east of Imperial Oil's Kearl oilsands site.

Imperial Oil said Thursday its operations were not affected, though it continues to monitor the situation closely.

"We are currently working with industry organizations that have infrastructure near these wildfires," Alberta Wildfire said.

Facility produces 215,000 barrels of oil per day

Suncor's Firebag oilsands site is the company's largest in situ operation. In oilsands terminology, in situ means using steam to heat up and loosen underground bitumen that is too deep underground to be accessed through surface mining.

The facility produces up to 215,000 barrels of oil per day, and employs a fly-in, fly-out workforce from across the country.

The company's website says there are typically about 400 people at the site each day.

Thirty-six firefighters, nine helicopters, three pieces of heavy equipment and other staff are working on the Firebag Complex. More resources are coming, Alberta Wildfire said.

Firefighters are working on areas of the wildfire that are closest to infrastructure. Other crews are working to put out smaller fires burning nearby.

There was significant fire growth toward the south on Wednesday, "with the fire showing intense activity," Alberta Wildfire said.

Airtankers were used early Wednesday to help slow fire growth, and a night-vision helicopter worked overnight.

More than 60 fires are burning across Alberta and officials have rated the fire danger in the north of the province as very high to extreme.

Weather forecasts show an extended period of hot weather will settle over Western Canada in the coming days, with temperatures expected to exceed 30 degrees by next week.

In May 2016, the massive wildfire that destroyed parts of the community of Fort McMurray also threatened major oilsands production facilities and forced the evacuation of thousands of workers.

During the peak of that crisis, more than one million barrels per day of Canadian oil production were shut in.

Earlier Thursday, Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the Suncor site had been shut down "out of an abundance of caution."

That post has since been deleted.