Suncor looks to rebound

Canadian producer aims for recovery after tough period of enforced production restrictions

Mandatary crude curtailments in the Canadian province of Alberta continued to hamstring domestic producers’ profits last year after the government took drastic measures to reduce the discounts of Canadian domestic production to US benchmarks—the result of a severe lack of export pipeline capacity. The fourth quarter financial results of Canadian oil sands producer Suncor showcased the industry-wide implications of the constraints. Company net losses in the quarter reached $2.34bn, against $280mn in the fourth quarter the previous year. Suncor also suffered a $3.4bn impairment charge due to lower projected returns on heavy oil mining at Fort Hills, in the Canadian oil sands patch. Total upstr