(Bloomberg) – Suncor Energy Inc. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc reduced their production in the heart of Canada's main oil-sands region and converted their work camps into shelters to aid fleeing residents of a wildfire that's racing across Alberta.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced by the fire to flee Fort McMurray as emergency crews worked to contain the blaze, which has destroyed 30 square kilometers (12 square miles), CBC News reported. Residents fled north to where most of the nearby oil sands sites are located to company worker camps. Shell said Wednesday it shut its 255,000 barrel-a-day Albian Sands oil sands mine to deal with evacuating workers after Suncor said Tuesday it was reducing output at its facilities in the region to allow workers and their families to get to safety.
The wildfire is the latest blow to a community already coping with the economic toll of the oil price downturn in one of the world's most-expensive places to extract crude. More than 40,000 oil and gas jobs have been cut in Canada since the price crash began in 2014.
Biggest fire evacuation in province's history
The evacuation is the biggest caused by a fire in the province's history, Premier Rachel Notley said at a briefing with reporters Tuesday afternoon. , she said.
Western Canadian Select crude's discount to West Texas Intermediate futures narrowed 80 cents to $12.65 a barrel as of 7:42 a.m. Mountain time, the narrowest in two months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Highway 63, the main road in and out of Fort McMurray, was breached by the fire, which earlier Tuesday afternoon started to become "aggressive," Scott Long, executive director of provincial operations at the government's Alberta Emergency Management Agency, told reporters.
Officials have not identified the cause of the fire. Wildfires are common in western Canada though this blaze started earlier than normal due to a warm, dry spring in northern Alberta. Fort McMurray is about 700 kilometers (420 miles) north east of Calgary.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc is opening up its Albian Village work camp for all evacuated Fort McMurray residents who need a place to stay, Cameron Yost, a spokesman, said by e-mail. Nexen, the Cnooc Ltd. subsidiary whose Long Lake oil-sands project is close to Fort McMurray, is working on a modified staffing plan to safely manage the situation, Brittney Price, a spokeswoman, said in a e-mailed statement. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is working to support workers affected by the fire, Julie Woo, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
Energy companies helping to fight blazes
Energy companies are helping to fight the blazes and crews from other parts of the province are also mobilizing to pitch in, Notley said. Alberta is also in discussions with other provinces about assistance, she said.
"The conditions are changing quite rapidly," Melissa Blake, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, said in a a briefing earlier on Tuesday. "The fire has grown. We've got tremendous dryness in the area right now."
Suncor's plant is about 25 kilometers (16 miles) north of Fort McMurray and is in a safe condition, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
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