An oilsands site south of Fort McMurray is being temporarily shut down.

Athabasca Oil announced on Thursday they were suspending operations at its Hangingstone SAGD project due to the current economic situation and COVID-19 pandemic.

This includes shutting in the well pairs and halting steam injection to the reservoir.

The oil company is now expecting to produce between 30,000 – 31,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day. This is down around 2,500 barrels due to the Hangingstone suspension.

“It is unfortunate that madeinAlberta assets like Hangingstone cannot continue operations under current prices,” Athabasca Oil said in a press release.

They are taking measures to preserve the facility and pipelines so they can re-start operations if the economy recovers.

Meanwhile, Athabasca Oil is also reducing corporate staff by 15 per cent.