The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that oil sands operators have reduced staffing to only essential workers, warning them they may need to evacuate at short notice as wildfires spread across Alberta. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that over 170 fires were burning across the province Tuesday, 56 of which were out of control. The vast majority of wildfire activity in Alberta over the past week has been concentrated in the northern half of the province, including the area around Fort McMurray where the bulk of oil sands operations are located. Operating with reduced staffing levels is Cenovus's Sunrise operation 60 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. The company said in a statement to The Globe on Tuesday there has been no impact to production at any of its oil sands facilities. Suncor said wildfires do not pose any immediate risk to its operations or the Firebag airport. In a disclosure document filed by the company last year, Suncor said that while the likelihood of extreme weather events remains "unknown," an extreme-weather-forced shutdown of its massive Base Plant mine for 10 days could cost the company $56-million a day owing to production losses. A massive wildfire destroyed part of Fort McMurray in 2016.
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