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By one estimate, producers are losing $70 million a day with more than one million barrels of production shut in, while the province is deprived of royalties and economic activity.

A prolonged shutdown would be crippling for all sides — and the entire country — but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Facilities north of Fort McMurray, containing some of the large oilsands mines run by Suncor Energy, Shell Canada, Syncrude and Canadian Natural Resources, were not damaged by the fire, said Notley.

Over the weekend, many were evacuated and oil output stopped as winds fanned the flames closer to the plants, before changing course.

“We expect ultimately that many companies will begin to resume their production in the coming days and short weeks ahead,” the premier told reporters after the meeting.

North of Fort McMurray, oilsands plants were affected by some smoke but not fire, said Suncor CEO Steve Williams. In these developments, production could start up in a few days or “maybe a week or so,” he said.

South of Fort McMurray, the situation is less certain for thermal oilsands operations as fires are still active in the area.

The premier noted firefighting officials haven’t been able to get complete access to some developments such as Nexen’s Long Lake project, although the province believes it’s intact.

This is relatively good news, given the precarious outlook of a few days ago.

However, there is much logistical work in the days ahead to get a dozen closed oilsands facilities up and operating in a safe manner.