The Firebag River is a river in northern

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It gets its name from the traditional bags Aboriginals once used to carry fire-starting flints.

Firebag River in western Canada

It originates in ''Firebag Lake'' in northwestern Saskatchewan, flows west into Alberta, and discharges in the

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') is a river in Alberta, Canada, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is pro ...

65 km north of

Fort McKay Fort McKay ( ) or Fort MacKay is a community in northern Alberta, northeast Alberta, Canada that is located at the confluence of the Athabasca River, Athabasca and MacKay rivers. It is approximately north of Fort McMurray via Alberta Highway 63, ...

. The length of the river is approximately 170 km, and the average discharge at the Athabasca River confluence is 20 m³/s. The southern tract of ''Marguerite River Wildland'' protects part of the river valley, and a recreation park for Northeast Alberta Region located along the river has been proposed in 1980

Suncor Suncor Energy (french: Suncor Énergie) is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-l ...

has an

SAGD Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD; "Sag-D") is an enhanced oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen. It is an advanced form of steam stimulation in which a pair of horizontal wells is drilled into the oil reservoir, on ...

project in production (the ''Firebag in-situ operation''), extracting

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

from the

oil sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

of the

McMurray Formation The McMurray Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Early Cretaceous age (late Barremian to Aptian stage) of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in northeastern Alberta. It takes the name from Fort McMurray and was first described from outcrops alon ...

located in the river basin.Suncor
- Firebag in-situ oil sands facility

Fort MacKay/Firebag Aerodrome Fort MacKay/Firebag Aerodrome is located from the Firebag River, Alberta, Canada. The aerodrome was built to service the ''Firebag in-situ operation'' of Suncor Energy Suncor Energy (french: Suncor Énergie) is a Canadian integrated energy ...

is located 22

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s (41 km; 25 mi) away.

References

Rivers of Alberta Rivers of Saskatchewan {{Alberta-river-stub

See also

References