By The Canadian Press

No damage to oilsands plants; production to resume in days ahead: Notley

May 10, 2016 | 4:26 PM

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says the province and the energy industry are working together to quickly restart oilsands projects that were forced to shut down by the Fort McMurray wildfire.

Notley says production is expected to resume in the days ahead once “it is absolutely safe to do so for personnel as well as for the environment.” 

“There is an economic consequence to taking production offline,” she said Tuesday after a meeting with oil company executives. “There’s foregone revenue to both companies and to the Crown.”

Steve Williams, CEO of Suncor, said it’s important for the Canadian economy to get production back on track.

He added he doesn’t anticipate any layoffs generally because of the fire.

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“In fact, what I have heard this morning broadly from companies is they’ve guaranteed pay in advance so that pay to workers will not be interrupted,” he said. “And in most cases, they’ve gone into additional schemes either to loan funds … or to bring forward payments that were scheduled for later in the year.

“I think employees are in very good shape.”

The shutdown of about a dozen projects has taken just over one million barrels of oilsands output offline at an estimated loss of $65 million in daily revenue.

The Canadian Press

©2016 The Canadian Press