that the Fort Hills project is continuing its
steady ramp up of production following the
safe startup of secondary extraction on Jan.
27, 2018—an important milestone.
"With operations at Fort Hills now in continu-
ous production, we've brought one of the best
long-term growth projects in our industry into
service and we're now focused on the safe
and steady ramp up through 2018," Steve Wil-
liams, Suncor President and CEO said at the
time. "Thanks to the hard work and diligence
of our employees, contractors and joint ven-
ture partners, we were able to accomplish this
safely and efficiently. Fort Hills will provide en-
ergy and employment and generate returns
for decades."
At peak construction, Fort Hills employed an
average of 7,900 people. Now in operation,
Fort Hills employs approximately 1,400 direct
employees and the vast majority have been
hired from Alberta.
The Fort Hills project was sanctioned by the
Fort Hills partners in 2013. The project was de-
signed in stages in order to level load resourc-
es through construction and development.
62 BUSINESS ELITE CANADA | JULY 2018
