Suncor's Strong Quarter Points to Oil & Gas Expansion Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Suncor Energy Incorporated (NYSE:SU) (Calgary, Alberta) expects to exceed its previous guidance for full-year 2024 oil production and refinery throughput, bolstered by stronger oil prices and more oil sands production. The company expects oil output of 770,000 to 810,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) for full-year 2024, and to date has benefited from lower absolute costs when compared with the previous year. Industrial Info is tracking more than US$20 billion worth of active and proposed projects from Suncor, nearly all of which is attributed to projects in Alberta.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing active and proposed projects from Suncor, by project type.

Suncor's total bitumen production from Canada's oil sands reached 834,400 barrels per day (BBL/d), a 2.5% increase from second-quarter 2023, attributed largely to record quarterly production at the company's Fort Hills and Firebag mines in Alberta's Athabasca region. Other Suncor operations in the oil sands region, such as the Mildred Lake development just north of Fort McMurray, are expected to benefit from upcoming capacity expansions.

A US$1.5 billion extension to the Mildred Lake North Oil Sands Mine, nicknamed MLX-West, is expected to extend the 7,500-ton-per-hour facility's mine life by 14 years. The project began construction in early 2021 and is expected to wrap up next spring; if successful, the company might greenlight the proposed MLX-East extension, which could add another 14 years. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Project and Plant databases can learn more from detailed reports on the MLX-West and MLX-East projects, and a plant profile.

Activity at Suncor's existing bitumen operations is strong enough that the company is now shying away from building totally new mining assets in the region. "With growth from within existing assets and a wealth of long-term internal options, there will be no significant capital directed to new bitumen development in the next five years," said Richard Kruger, the chief executive officer of Suncor, in a quarterly earnings-related conference call.

Among its efforts intended to sustain and improve operations at its existing bitumen-development projects, Suncor expects to finish construction toward the end of this year on a US$1.06 billion addition of a natural gas-fired cogeneration unit at its Fort McMurray oil sands base. The 800-megawatt (MW) unit will provide power to the 350,000-barrel-per-day mining operation by replacing three outdated coke-fired boilers with two gas-fired turbine generators. Suncor says the new unit will reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide by 45%, nitrogen oxide by 15% and particulate matter by 66%. Subscribers can read more in a detailed project report.

Suncor's refining business in Fort McMurray also is planning for major improvements next year. The company expects to perform a US$275 million replacement of four coke drums on a delayed coker unit, which has a capacity of 160,000 BBL/d. The project is expected to kick off in the spring and could wrap up as early as mid-summer. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

Crude throughput at Suncor's refineries increased 9.2% from second-quarter 2023 to 430,500 BBL/d. "Refining utilization was an impressive 92% in the second quarter," said Kristopher Smith, the chief financial officer of Suncor, in the earnings call. "This supported refined product sales of 595,000 barrels per day, surpassing the previous record set last quarter by 14,000 barrels per day."

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for active and planned projects from Suncor.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).