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About 400 Calgary employees of ATCO Structures Inc. are out of a job after a housing-camp project they were assigned to was cancelled.
Further construction for the 2,000-person camp was called off after the Fort Hills Energy Limited Partnership delayed its oilsands project north of Fort McMurray, said Harry Wilmot, president and chief operating officer for ATCO Structures Inc.
"We finished 504 of the 2,000-room camp and with the delay they don't need the camp right now," Wilmot said.
He said as a result, about 400 hourly workers in Calgary contracted for the project had to be laid off.
"Our workforce expands and contracts as our projects happen," Wilmot said.
"We had 1,500 to build so that's unexpected and now we will have to reassess."
He said employees could be brought back on in the new year.
"We staff our facilities in order to meet our customer's requirements," Wilmot explained.
"With the loss of this contract, we will review our staff count and re-focus our efforts on business development."
But with the holiday season around the corner, Wilmot admitted it's an unfortunate time for the layoffs.
"We're very unhappy with the timing," he said.
Enbridge and Fort Hills signed a $2-billion agreement one year ago to build a pipeline from the bitumen mine to an upgrader near Edmonton.
Petro-Canada, the senior partner in the Fort Hills venture, announced last month that it will revisit all contracts to get cheaper deals, especially on pipelines and steel costs.
It said it and its partners in the Fort Hills oilsands development would push a decision on the mining portion of the project into next year and defer its accompanying upgrader indefinitely.
The mining portion of the Fort Hills was scheduled to start producing in 2011, by which time Enbridge was expected to have the pipeline in service.
Further construction for the 2,000-person camp was called off after the Fort Hills Energy Limited Partnership delayed its oilsands project north of Fort McMurray, said Harry Wilmot, president and chief operating officer for ATCO Structures Inc.
"We finished 504 of the 2,000-room camp and with the delay they don't need the camp right now," Wilmot said.
He said as a result, about 400 hourly workers in Calgary contracted for the project had to be laid off.
"Our workforce expands and contracts as our projects happen," Wilmot said.
"We had 1,500 to build so that's unexpected and now we will have to reassess."
He said employees could be brought back on in the new year.
"We staff our facilities in order to meet our customer's requirements," Wilmot explained.
"With the loss of this contract, we will review our staff count and re-focus our efforts on business development."
But with the holiday season around the corner, Wilmot admitted it's an unfortunate time for the layoffs.
"We're very unhappy with the timing," he said.
Enbridge and Fort Hills signed a $2-billion agreement one year ago to build a pipeline from the bitumen mine to an upgrader near Edmonton.
Petro-Canada, the senior partner in the Fort Hills venture, announced last month that it will revisit all contracts to get cheaper deals, especially on pipelines and steel costs.
It said it and its partners in the Fort Hills oilsands development would push a decision on the mining portion of the project into next year and defer its accompanying upgrader indefinitely.
The mining portion of the Fort Hills was scheduled to start producing in 2011, by which time Enbridge was expected to have the pipeline in service.
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