LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Canadian Natural Resources does not know when oil production at a key facility will resume as it has still not been able to assess the damage from a fire 11 days ago, Vice-Chairman John Langille said.
'We have not been allowed complete access yet. We are still working with the occupational health safety people,' Langille told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in London on Monday.
'We are getting more and more access every day. So, I am hoping that within a few more days we will have full access to the site,' he said.
Langille said the company would not be able to estimate on how long repairs would take and when production would resume until it could assess the damage.
A blaze at the Horizon oil sands plant in Alberta on Jan. 6 injured five and forced the company, Canada's largest independent oil producer, to halt production at the facility which accounts for about 10 percent of the country's synthetic oil production.
Alberta health and safety officials said on Monday that the stop-work order that was placed on the site following the fire, and that has kept the company from inspecting the damage, would remain in effect for at least two or three more days.
'The next step will be to reduce the boundaries ... of that order,' said Barrie Harrison, a spokesman for Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. 'Right now we are working with a structural engineer to determine the integrity of the structure and we'll go from there. So we're talking a couple of days anyway.'
Canadian Natural said last Tuesday it might be able to produce half its 110,000 barrel-a-day capacity while repairs were under way as it believes two of the four drums in the coker unit were undamaged.
Langille reiterated this view.
'We think that two of the drums may still be able to produce. We think that we can possibly still get in and operate those in due course,' he said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young, additional reporting by Scott Haggett in Calgary; editing by Paul Hoskins and Rob Wilson) Keywords: CANADIANNATURALRESOURCES/ (sarah.young@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7717; Reuters Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'We have not been allowed complete access yet. We are still working with the occupational health safety people,' Langille told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in London on Monday.
'We are getting more and more access every day. So, I am hoping that within a few more days we will have full access to the site,' he said.
Langille said the company would not be able to estimate on how long repairs would take and when production would resume until it could assess the damage.
A blaze at the Horizon oil sands plant in Alberta on Jan. 6 injured five and forced the company, Canada's largest independent oil producer, to halt production at the facility which accounts for about 10 percent of the country's synthetic oil production.
Alberta health and safety officials said on Monday that the stop-work order that was placed on the site following the fire, and that has kept the company from inspecting the damage, would remain in effect for at least two or three more days.
'The next step will be to reduce the boundaries ... of that order,' said Barrie Harrison, a spokesman for Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. 'Right now we are working with a structural engineer to determine the integrity of the structure and we'll go from there. So we're talking a couple of days anyway.'
Canadian Natural said last Tuesday it might be able to produce half its 110,000 barrel-a-day capacity while repairs were under way as it believes two of the four drums in the coker unit were undamaged.
Langille reiterated this view.
'We think that two of the drums may still be able to produce. We think that we can possibly still get in and operate those in due course,' he said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young, additional reporting by Scott Haggett in Calgary; editing by Paul Hoskins and Rob Wilson) Keywords: CANADIANNATURALRESOURCES/ (sarah.young@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7717; Reuters Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.