Most of Canada’s oil-sands production shut down

Associated Press

EDMONTON, Alberta

The majority of Canada’s oil-sands industry has stopped production and will only start back up when it is “absolutely safe” but that should happen soon, Alberta’s premier said Tuesday after meeting with company officials to discuss the impact of the massive wildfire that destroyed more than 10 percent of the homes and buildings in Canada’s main oil-sands city.

Suncor chief executive Steve Williams, the head of Canada’s largest oil company, said about a million barrels a day went offline but that some of that already has started to come back. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the massive oil-sands mines north of Fort McMurray have not been damaged.

Shell Canada said it had resumed production at its Albian Sands mining operations but at a reduced rate after a seven-day closure.

The wildfire that broke out a week ago has forced as much as a third of Canada’s oil output offline and was expected to impact an economy already hurt by the fall in oil prices. Alberta’s oil sands have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.