Suncor income falls on lower prices, refinery margins, despite higher production

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CALGARY — Suncor Energy Inc. is reporting lower third-quarter net income as higher upstream and refining production was offset by lower commodity prices and refinery profit margins.

The Calgary-based oil and gas producer, refiner and fuel retailer says it earned $1.035 billion or 67 cents per share in the three months ended Sept. 30 on revenue of $9.9 billion.

That compares with net earnings of $1.81 billion or $1.12 per share on revenue of $10.9 billion in the year-earlier period.

Analysts had expected net income of $1.25 billion or 77 cents per share on revenue of $10.31 billion, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

Total upstream production was 762,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to 743,800 boe/d in the third-quarter of 2018.

The increase came from higher production at Syncrude (Suncor has a 58.7 per cent interest), as well as the ramp up of output from the Fort Hills oilsands mine and Hebron East Coast offshore project, offset by maintenance outages, provincially mandated production curtailments in Alberta and an unplanned outage at the Hibernia offshore facility.

Suncor reduced its production guidance for 2019 to a mid-point of 785,000 boe/d, down from 800,000 boe/d, in part to reflect higher than expected levels of curtailment in the fourth quarter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2019.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SU)

The Canadian Press