(Reuters) -Cenovus Energy said on Wednesday it was scaling back non-essential workers at its Foster Creek facility in response to wildfires in northern Alberta.
Wildfires in the Canadian province of Alberta have prompted a temporary shutdown of some oil and gas production and forced residents of at least one small town to evacuate.
Cenovus’ Foster Creek operation is among a number of oil sands facilities operated by companies with assets in the Bonnyville-Cold Lake region.
That region was affected on Wednesday by several wildfires spanning 2,900 hectares (11.2 square miles) near Chipewyan Lake, a small community in the northern part of the province approximately 130 km (81 miles) west of the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray.
Cenovus added that it was closely monitoring the evolving wildfire situation in the region and the staffing measure was a precaution.
Alberta government officials said on Wednesday afternoon there was no threat at this time to the community of Chipewyan Lake, but residents have been placed on a one-hour evacuation notice as winds could shift.
Another blaze, nearly 1,600 hectares in size, is burning out of control about 7 km north of Swan Hills in the province’s northern region.
The approximately 1,200 residents of the town of Swan Hills were ordered to evacuate on Monday evening. One oil-and-gas producer in that area, Aspenleaf Energy, said on Monday it had temporarily halted operations as a precaution and shut in approximately 4,000 barrels-of-oil equivalent per day of production.
The Canadian province of Manitoba declared a separate state of emergency Wednesday afternoon due to multiple wildfires threatening many communities and infrastructure. Evacuations and alerts were in effect for multiple communities in northern and eastern parts of that province as of Wednesday.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary and Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi and Sonali Paul)
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