A rally in oil prices subsided Monday as Canadian wildfires moved away from key production facilities in Alberta, home to some of the world's larger oil fields.

Canadian energy company Suncor had about 10,000 of its employees evacuated from an oil sands operation near Fort McMurray as wildfires rage across the region. The company said the fire moved close to its base operations, but was now moving east, away from the facilities.

"We have routinely brought down assets as part of planned maintenance and safely ramped them back up within days and we believe we can do so in these circumstances," said Steve Williams, Suncor president and chief executive officer, said in a statement late Sunday.

Crude oil prices moved up sharply in overnight trading, but pulled back by the start of trading in New York. The price for Brent crude oil was 1.1 percent lower to $44.85 per barrel early in the Monday session. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for oil, was down 0.6 percent to start the day at $44.40 per barrel.

April saw crude oil prices move up 25 percent as analysts said the supply-side pressures that pushed oil lower were starting to fade. Underlying economic weakness has surfaced in recent days, notably from weak labor data in the United States, that suggest demand is still below what's needed to take up the volume of crude oil on the market.

The rally may be taking a breather as traders gauge the shakeup in the Saudi government that saw longtime Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi pushed aside. Naimi steered a Saudi oil policy that prioritized lower oil prices as a way to defend a market share from high-cost producers like the United States, which is experiencing a decline in output.

Naimi will be replaced by Khalid al-Falih, the head of state oil company Saudi Aramco. Falih said last year that supply, demand and economic fundamentals would be the governing factors for oil markets.

Canada's Suncor: Fires moving away
Fort Mcmurray, Alberta (UPI) May 9, 2016 –

Canadian energy company Suncor, one of the largest in Alberta, said wildfires raging in the province are moving away from their operations near Fort McMurray.

"Although the fire reached the southern end of our mine at our oil sands base operations, fire mitigation efforts were successful," the company said in a statement late Sunday. "We continue to monitor the situation closely and current weather conditions and forecasts indicate the fire is moving east, away from our operations."

Most of Alberta's oil sands operations were shut down or forced to curb productivity in response to fires that forced the evacuation of nearly 90,000 people. Canadian energy company Nexen last week shut down its operations at the Long Lake facility and evacuated its staff.

Suncor moved more than 10,000 people out of Fort McMurray and closed down its operations as well. Its facilities were not damaged and the company said it would restart work once it's safe to do so.

"To facilitate a safe start-up, we will bring employees back in a staged approach and will contact them when it is time to return to work," the company said.

The provincial government said employees also were evacuated from facilities operated by Husky Energy, Royal Dutch Shell and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Alberta's government said, however, that many of the facilities operated by those companies are still operating.

Hot, dry and gusty conditions contributed to the fire risk in the area. According to the official weather service in Canada, there's a modest chance of rain for Monday, but otherwise warm, windy and dry conditions are expected to last through much of the week. Fires from British Columbia, meanwhile, have moved six miles across the western border into Alberta.

Fires in Fort McMurray are near the center of Alberta oil sands operations, which, outside of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, represent the third largest deposits of oil in the world.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher in response to the Alberta wildfires.