July 4 (Reuters) - Suncor Energy ( SU ) has shut down

its 215,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Firebag oil sands site in

northern Alberta and curtailed some production as a precaution

due to a wildfire about eight kilometres (5 miles) away,

according to the company and an Alberta government minister.

Suncor, Canada's second-largest oil producer, said the

facility will be kept ready to resume full operations as soon as

possible once it is safe to do so.

The company added that it was keeping only essential

workers at the facility, which lies roughly 100 kilometres

northeast of the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray, and that there

was no risk to its other operations or the Firebag airport.

Alberta's Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen

said Firebag had been shut down on Wednesday night out of

caution.

There are more than 60 fires across Alberta and officials

have rated the danger in the province's north as very high to

extreme, he added.

Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and more

than two-thirds of its 5 million bpd of crude comes from

Alberta's oil sands.

Imperial Oil ( IMO ), whose Kearl oil sands mine is about

20 kilometres north of Firebag, and Cenovus Energy ( CVE ),

whose Sunrise facility is to the south, said their operations

had been not affected at present.

"We are closely monitoring the evolving wildfire activity

across northern Alberta, including near our Sunrise facility,"

Cenovus said in a statement.

The blaze threatening Suncor's site is part of the

out-of-control Firebag Complex of wildfires, which is comprised

of several new lightning-caused fires, according to Alberta's

provincial wildfire agency.

Weather forecasts show an extended period of hot weather

will settle over Western Canada in the coming days, with

temperatures expected to exceed 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees

Fahrenheit) by next week.

So far the wildfire season in Canada has been much quieter

than last year, when more than 6,600 fires scorched a

record-breaking 15 million hectares, an area roughly seven times

the annual average.

But large swathes of western Canada are still abnormally dry

due to ongoing drought and wildfire season tends to peak in July

and August.