* Alberta and Red Cross to distribute relief funds
* Enbridge restarts pipeline
* Fort McMurray still closed to residents
(Adds details from police briefing, vehicles moving north
toward oil sands plants)
By Nia Williams and Ernest Scheyder
CALGARY/LAC LA BICHE, Alberta, May 11 (Reuters) - Workers
for one of the largest oil sands companies affected by a
wildfire in northern Canada will begin returning to the
shuttered facilities on Thursday, a union official said, the
latest indication the key petroleum production area was slowly
coming back online.
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, the premier of the province of
Alberta and the head of the Canadian Red Cross announced that
residents of Fort McMurray, the oil-boom town that was evacuated
last week because of the fire, would be offered direct financial
aid.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established an ad
hoc cabinet committee to coordinate federal relief efforts.
Trudeau will tour the fire zone on Friday.
Ken Smith, president of Unifor Local 707, the union that
represents 3,400 Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO workers, said the
company would start to fly employees back to its oil sands base
plant from Thursday.
"It will take a few days to get the plant up and in
condition to start handling feed," Smith said.
Facilities north of Fort McMurray that had been shuttered
largely because of heavy smoke rather than fire were likely to
come back on line first, in a matter of days in many cases.
Roughly 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of output were shut
down during the fire, about half of the oil sands' usual daily
production.
Late Wednesday, Enbridge Inc ENB.TO said it had restarted
its 550,000 bpd Line 18 pipeline, which carries crude from the
company's Cheecham terminal 380 kilometers (236 miles) south to
the regional crude trading hub of Edmonton.
Enbridge also said crews were on site at its facilities in
the Fort McMurray region and confirmed its terminals were not
damaged by the wildfire.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSa.L was the first company to
resume operations in the area, restarting its Albian Sands mines
at a reduced rate. The facility can produce up to 255,000 bpd.
Syncrude, controlled by Suncor, restarted power generation
at its oil sands mine in Aurora, north of the city, on Tuesday
as it began planning to resume operations. The site has a total
capacity of around 315,000 bpd.
Dozens of repair trucks and other vehicles headed for the
oil fields on Wednesday, driving north along the main highway
into the area, a Reuters eyewitness said. Some were towing heavy
equipment.
Still, some projects to the south and east of Fort McMurray
remained unreachable as the fire threat persisted.
The town remained shut to residents.
"The area is still very ... dangerous with some hot spots
still throughout the city and areas of concern," said Kevin
Kunetzki of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Around 300 RCMP members are patrolling the town and have
found 100 homes showing signs of break-ins. This could be a
result of concerned residents trying to check on neighbors,
rather than burglars, he told a news conference in Edmonton.
The size of the fire was little changed on Wednesday at
roughly 229,000 hectares (566,000 acres) and moving away from
the community.
There are 700 firefighters, 32 helicopters, 13 air tankers
and 83 pieces of heavy equipment units working on the Fort
McMurray fire, the government said.
Alberta is making cash available immediately to the 90,000
evacuees from the fire zone. The funds, C$1,250 per adult and
C$500 per child, would be distributed by debit cards beginning
immediately to evacuees in Edmonton, Calgary and Lac La Biche.
Canadian Red Cross Chief Executive Conrad Sauve said his
agency was making C$50 million in funds available to the relief
effort now, out of C$67 million that had been raised so far. The
money will be distributed as electronic funds transfers of C$600
for each adult and C$300 for each child, he said.
"This is the most important cash transfer we have done in
our history and the fastest one," he told a news conference with
Alberta premier Rachel Notley.
The local government council held its first meeting since
the evacuations in Edmonton on Thursday. The mood was somber and
defiant.
Authorities in Lac la Biche, a small town south of Fort
McMurray where many evacuees are staying, opened its fishing
season four days early to provide temporary residents "with a
well-deserved family recreational opportunity," a statement
said.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Canada wildfire shuts crude capacity http://tmsnrt.rs/1T6HcrN
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>