July 24 (Reuters) - Canada's Imperial Oil ( IMO ) is

reducing non-essential staff at the Kearl oil sands site as a

precaution against the ongoing wildfires in the country, the

company said on Wednesday.

There are 430 wildfires in British Columbia with another 172

in Alberta including those near the key oil sands hub of Fort

McMurray in northern Alberta.

Imperial Oil ( IMO ) said there was no direct impact on its

operations at the moment and that it continues to monitor the

situation closely.

About two-thirds of Canada's five million barrels per day of

production comes from the oil sands region.

The wildfire danger level is designated as "extreme" across

the Fort McMurray forest area and a fire ban is in effect for

the entire area, as per an Alberta government release on

Tuesday.

Kearl oil sands site lies roughly 70 kilometres north of

Fort McMurray.

Separately, several analysts said the wildfires in Canada

forced some producers to curtail production and threatened a

large amount of supply, lending support to higher prices.

Earlier this month Suncor, Canada's second-largest

oil company, temporarily curtailed some production and evacuated

non-essential workers from its 215,000 barrels-per-day (bpd)

Firebag site because of a nearby fire.