IMO Imperial Oil Limited

By Chester Dawson 

CALGARY, Alberta -- Raging forest fires in Canada's oil-rich province of Alberta have forced the evacuation of some 88,000 residents of the town of Fort McMurray, shutting down one major oil-sands mining operation on Wednesday and reducing output at another.

Roughly 1,600 buildings in Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada's oil-sands industry, have been damaged by fire, said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in a news conference Wednesday.

Most of the city's residents were able to evacuate to towns and cities south of Fort McMurray, but about 10,000 people were relocated to several oil-sands work camps north of the city, she said.

"Of course, the weather is a key issue and this afternoon is going to be a challenge for us," Ms. Notley said.

Heavy winds and unseasonably warm temperatures on Wednesday were expected to make the blaze worse than the previous day, Chad Morrison, Alberta's senior manager of wildfire prevention, said.

The uncontrolled fires have razed parts of several residential neighborhoods, entered the downtown district and threatened a key bridge connecting the northern and southern parts of town, officials said.

Across the province, many private citizens opened their homes to those fleeing the fires, officials said.

The evacuation is the largest in Alberta's history, forcing residents in more than 12 northern communities including Fort McMurray to leave their homes, according to the Canadian Red Cross. Red Cross set up a toll-free number to help evacuees connect with family members.

No injuries or casualties have been reported, even as the fires continued to sweep through areas in and around Fort McMurray. Local authorities didn't have an estimate for the number of homes or other properties damaged or destroyed.

The rapid spread of the blaze has started to affect operations at major oil-sands productions sites. The oil-sands facilities aren't directly threatened by the uncontrolled forest fires, but mandatory evacuations of workers have brought some operations to a halt.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Canadian unit halted its oil-sands mining operations, which produce about 250,000 barrels a day, to speed evacuations of people who fled to the site, which is about 60 miles north of the fires. A spokesman didn't provide an estimate for how long the shutdown is expected to last.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada's largest oil producer, said late Tuesday that it reduced production at all of its oil-sands operations due to the forced evacuations. It also said that none of its operations were in the path of the forest fires. Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Canadian unit, Imperial Oil Ltd., said it was evacuating nonessential employees but that production hasn't been affected "at this time," according to a spokeswoman.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has pledged support for the residents of Fort McMurray and the province of Alberta.

"We will be there for them," Mr. Trudeau said Wednesday. "We all have to work together to provide all possible assistance to the people who are going through a terrible time, who have lost their homes, lost their jobs and have lost all their property. They are asking a lot of questions about their future."

Canada's total oil-sands production is around 2 million barrels a day, much of which is exported to the U.S.

Oil-sands producers have opened worker camps north of Fort McMurray to about 17,000 evacuees and flew out employees not based in the area to make room for displaced residents, Mr. Schmitte told reporters.

The fires, which started late Sunday, spread from a forested area southwest of Fort McMurray and crossed the Athabasca River bisecting the town Monday. They began to threaten residential neighborhoods by midday Tuesday, prompting evacuations.

Firefighters were overwhelmed by the blaze and were unable to stop it despite aerial and ground-based efforts.

"I don't believe there's anything [that] could have been done with respect to firefighting that would have saved any more property," said Darby Allen, Fort McMurray's regional fire chief.

The town is located in a remote area of northern Alberta surrounded by boreal forests consisting largely of jack pine and fir trees.

Southbound traffic on Highway 63, the city's main arterial road, resumed late Tuesday after being shut down earlier in the day as a precautionary measure due to the wildfires. An estimated 18,000 evacuees used the road to flee to Edmonton, about 267 miles south of Fort McMurray.

Unseasonably warm temperatures and dry weather helped ignite 35 wildfires throughout Alberta by midday Tuesday, and a provincewide fire ban is in place, according to the provincial government.

--David George-Cosh and Paul Vieira contributed to this article.

Write to Chester Dawson at chester.dawson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 04, 2016 14:41 ET (18:41 GMT)

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