Canada’s Suncor Energy saw its oil production hit a record high in 2024, exceeding the high end of the company’s own forecast range, amid increased demand and eased access to markets.
Suncor Energy’s annual production averaged 827,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, up by 10.9% compared to 2023 and up by 17,000 bpd above its high-end guidance, the company said in an operational performance update for its upstream and downstream businesses for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024.
Quarterly oil production in Q4 also hit a record. At 874,000 bpd, output rose by 66,000 bpd from the same quarter a year earlier. Suncor’s quarterly upgrader utilization rate stood at 103%, with both Syncrude and Base Plant greater than 100%.
Suncor’s other records for Q4 and 2024 include record-high annual upgrader utilization of 98%, or 6% higher than the previous best, as well as a record annual refining throughput of 465,000 bpd, up by 10.5% compared to 2023 and 20,000 bpd above the high-end of guidance.
Suncor also boasted record annual refining utilization of 100%, with record-high annual utilization of 105% and 98% at Edmonton and Montreal, respectively.
The Trans Mountain Expansion Project, now finally completed after years of delays, expanded access to markets for Canadian oil producers in 2024, while high fuel demand in North America during the peak driving season helped the refining business of the integrated firms. Gasoline and jet fuel demand in the United States, a key market for Canadian crude producers and refiners, hit in the summer the highest level since the summer of 2019.
Last month, Suncor said in its 2025 guidance that it would aim to boost annual upstream production to between 810,000 and 840,000 bpd, and increase annual refining utilization from 93% to 97%, “both reflecting the sustainability of the higher performance achieved throughout 2024.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com