CALGARY (Thomson Financial) - Suncor Energy Inc said third-quarter net earnings fell year-on-year after scheduled maintenance outages resulted in lower production of oil sands and increased expenditure on refined products to ensure it met its contractual obligations.
However, Calgary-based Suncor said it expects output to improve in the fourth quarter as a result of the maintenance.
Net earnings during the third-quarter were 677 mln cad, compared to 682 mln last year. Cash flow from operations was 1.027 bln cad, compared to 1.153 bln.
Suncor said the negative impact of the outages was partially offset by higher realised prices for oil-sands products.
'If you back out the impact of the maintenance work, you'll see that from an operational perspective, both our oil sands operation and our downstream businesses had a good quarter,' said Rick George, president and chief executive officer. 'Production at oil sands and utilization rates in the downstream were fairly strong.'
Upstream production during the period averaged 274,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), compared to 277,400 boepd in the same period last year, of which, oil sands contributed 239,100 boepd, compared to 242,800 boepd last year.
Natural gas production was 211 million cubic feet equivalent (mmcfe) per day, compared to 208 mmcfe per day last year.
Oil sands cash operating costs in the third quarter averaged 25.10 cad per barrel, compared to 23.70 cad last year, primarily as a result of higher maintenance costs and slightly lower production following the outages.
'At oil sands we saw major improvements during the latter half of the quarter. We used the outage to tie-in new operating units and we saw production rates climb considerably after start-up,' said George. 'It's a good indicator that we can expect a strong fourth quarter and that we'll have a great start to 2008.'
The tie-ins completed are key to increasing production capacity to 350,000 bpd in 2008. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/slj COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
However, Calgary-based Suncor said it expects output to improve in the fourth quarter as a result of the maintenance.
Net earnings during the third-quarter were 677 mln cad, compared to 682 mln last year. Cash flow from operations was 1.027 bln cad, compared to 1.153 bln.
Suncor said the negative impact of the outages was partially offset by higher realised prices for oil-sands products.
'If you back out the impact of the maintenance work, you'll see that from an operational perspective, both our oil sands operation and our downstream businesses had a good quarter,' said Rick George, president and chief executive officer. 'Production at oil sands and utilization rates in the downstream were fairly strong.'
Upstream production during the period averaged 274,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), compared to 277,400 boepd in the same period last year, of which, oil sands contributed 239,100 boepd, compared to 242,800 boepd last year.
Natural gas production was 211 million cubic feet equivalent (mmcfe) per day, compared to 208 mmcfe per day last year.
Oil sands cash operating costs in the third quarter averaged 25.10 cad per barrel, compared to 23.70 cad last year, primarily as a result of higher maintenance costs and slightly lower production following the outages.
'At oil sands we saw major improvements during the latter half of the quarter. We used the outage to tie-in new operating units and we saw production rates climb considerably after start-up,' said George. 'It's a good indicator that we can expect a strong fourth quarter and that we'll have a great start to 2008.'
The tie-ins completed are key to increasing production capacity to 350,000 bpd in 2008. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/slj COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
© 2007 AFX News
