TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Oil sands operator Cenovus Energy is restarting operations after staff returned to its Pelican Lake operation, in northern Alberta.
The plant was shut down on Tuesday when a wildfire approached within 1 km of the operation’s perimeter.
Cenovus late on Thursday afternoon advised that essential staff who had returned to the Pelican Lake operations were in the process of restarting oil production in a safe and orderly manner. Wells were currently being brought back online.
The main Pelican Lake complex was reported to be undamaged and fully functional, including offices, camps and the oil battery.
The company expected more than 50 essential staff to be back on site by the end of Thursday.
The fire in the vicinity of Cenovus’s facilities continued to burn but was being contained by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry first responders.
The company advised that it had a comprehensive evacuation plan in place to promptly evacuate personnel from site again if fire or air-quality conditions changed.