XOM Exxon Mobil Corp

CALGARY, Alberta—A mandatory evacuation order has been lifted at two Northern Alberta oil-sands production sites and five nearby work camps, as firefighters continue to make gains in combating raging wildfires in the region.

The lifting of the order late on Friday allows Suncor Energy Inc., and its Syncrude subsidiary to reopen two major oil-sands production complexes that have been shut down for more than two weeks because of the threat from forest fires.

A spokesman for Suncor said the company is preparing a schedule for a staged restarting of the plants.

Although government officials say fire conditions remain extreme in heavily forested areas near the community of Fort McMurray, the blazes have receded directly north of town near Suncor's plants and the five work camps.

Twelve other work camps in the area remain subject the evacuation order issued earlier this week that affected some 8,000 workers. It followed a broader evacuation of Fort McMurray earlier in the month that forced more than 80,000 people to flee the area.

No oil-sands production facilities have been damaged by the fires, but at the height of the threat, Canadian oil production dropped by at least a million barrels a day, or about 40% of the country's total oil-sands output.

Suncor has stopped output of 300,000 barrels of oil a day at two mines and a pair of oil-sands well sites. Its Syncrude unit has shut its 350,000-barrel-a-day-capacity mines. Oil-sands production is undertaken by a form of strip mining as well as through horizontally drilled wells tapping underground oil deposits.

Poor air quality remains a concern because of smoke from fires in the surrounding forests, Karen Grimsrud, Alberta's chief medical officer, said on Friday. Unsafe levels of airborne pollutants could affect the timing of a planned lifting of the evacuation order in stages from June 1, Ms. Grimsrud said.

Some oil-sands sites located further north of Fort McMurray have resumed production at reduced levels. Imperial Oil Ltd., Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Canadian unit, on Thursday said it had partially restarted operations at its Kearl oil sands mine about 47 miles northeast of Fort McMurray. Imperial Oil, which shut down the mine 10 days ago, didn't provide a timeline for resuming full operations at the facility, which has a capacity of 194,000 barrels a day.

While not damaged, many oil-sands sites have been affected by staffing issues stemming from the evacuation of Fort McMurray's residents and logistics issues preventing them from shipping heavy crude. Pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. has reduced its oil-sands crude shipments by about 900,000 barrels a day, but has a capacity of 1.5 million barrels a day.

Write to Jacquie McNish at Jacquie.McNish@wsj.com and Chester Dawson at chester.dawson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 22, 2016 22:15 ET (02:15 GMT)

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024