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Spokesman Reg Curren said the situation hasn’t changed for Cenovus since it used helicopters to fly out the remaining 100 or so workers on Saturday after the only access road was closed due to the fire threat.

“They started talking to us late Friday as an advisory and then it became clear to us we needed to get people out,” he said. “As a precaution we did. The 1,700 … were roused early Saturday morning and buses and personal vehicles were used. A little over 100 people stayed behind, initially, to continue operations but that was deemed not possible so that group became the shutdown crew.”

Several nearby oilsands operations said Monday they have not yet been affected but they are watching the fire closely.

Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development said on its website the fire covers 8,200 hectares and is out of control. The Alberta government has imposed a provincewide fire ban in its forests.

Cenovus said the fire is about 25 kilometres south of the Foster Creek facility and has caused no damage at the plant.

Cenovus shares closed down 38 cents to $20.95 Monday, while Canadian Natural ended the day at $38.48, down 13 cents.

“We do not imagine this (Cenovus) outage will last more than a few days and do not expect it will have much of an impact on full-year production guidance (265,000-288,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day),” wrote analyst Kyle Preston of National Bank Financial in a note to investors.

Imperial Oil Ltd. spokesman Pius Rolheiser said the fire has not affected its nearby oilsands facilities yet but it is being closely watched.

“We are providing staging area and other logistical support to provincial firefighting crews, and have indicated we are prepared to provide further assistance if required,” he said.

Spokesman Brad Bellows said the fire has had no operational impact on Calgary-based MEG Energy Corp.’s oilsands works but it is monitoring the situation. Mel Duvall, spokesman for Husky Energy Inc., said the company’s Tucker thermal oilsands facility is its operation that is closest to the fire but has not been affected.

dhealing@calgaryherald.com

Twitter.com/HealingSlowly