Suncor Leans on Syncrude to Post Record Output Amid Curtailment

(Bloomberg) -- Suncor Energy Inc. posted record second-quarter output, even in the face of Alberta’s mandatory crude-production curtailment program, by focusing on higher-value output from its Syncrude operation and buying other companies’ production allotments.

Total upstream production climbed to a second-quarter record of 803,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a 21% increase from a year earlier, when it was dealing with an outage at Syncrude. Suncor’s share of the operation’s production, which comes in the form of higher value synthetic crude, was 188,700 barrels a day, up from 117,800 a year earlier. Suncor also purchased 24,000 barrels worth of other companies’ production allotments during the quarter.

“The team was able to create significant value by opportunistically shifting production among our assets through this period of curtailment -- another great example of the benefits that come from having a broad and flexible asset base,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Little, who took the reins in May, said in the statement.

The increased production helped Suncor generate about C$3 billion ($2.3 billion) in funds from operations in the quarter. The company paid out C$658 million in dividends and bought back C$552 million in shares in the quarter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Calgary at korland@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada

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