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Message: Suncor sees wildfire costing nearly C$1 billion - sources
By Eric M. Johnson
CALGARY, Alberta, June 14 (Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc has told employees the massive wildfire that struck northern Alberta in May will cost the company nearly C$1 billion ($777.91 million), two sources at Canada's largest crude producer told Reuters.
The wildfire, which caused the evacuation of the Canadian oil sands hub of Fort McMurray, forced Suncor and other major crude producers in the area to halt operations for weeks, at one point cutting Canada's crude output by more than a million barrels a day.
One Suncor worker, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said an executive told employees on Monday that the company expects fire-related losses of "just shy" of C$1 billion.
A second employee, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said workers were told that direct costs related to the fire and the loss of production would cost nearly C$1 billion.
A Suncor spokeswoman declined to comment on wildfire-related losses.
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Suncor has several oil sands facilities, including the main mining site which has the capacity to produce up to 350,000 barrels per day.
Suncor last week said it expected to have its base plant operations back to pre-fire production rates within a week and all operations in the region producing at normal, pre-turnaround rates by the end of June.
The sources said they were told that the company's thermal operations were not coming back online as quickly as hoped because of blockages, likely stemming from the shutdown of steam injections that melt the tarry bitumen in reservoirs.
But they were also told Suncor had as much as six months' worth of available inventory at its main mining site, more than the typical amount of roughly two months.
Suncor spokeswoman Sneh Seetal declined to comment on specifics of operations but said the broader effort to bring production online was on track.
"Our return to operations is going as planned," she said. "We are bringing these operations back." ($1 = 1.2855 Canadian dollars) (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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