3-month outage begins at Fort McMurray upgrader as aging coke drums replaced

Lauren Krugel · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 07, 2025 5:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Oilsands elephantine Suncor Energy Inc. has begun a three-month outage astatine 1 of its upgraders truthful it tin statesman to regenerate tremendous components archetypal installed astir six decades ago.

The Calgary-based institution is successful the midst of a multi-year task to regenerate 8 archetypal coke drums dating backmost to 1967 astatine its Base Mine tract northbound of Fort McMurray, Alta., with the extremity of extending the upgrader's beingness by 30 years.

The drums, weighing 270 tonnes and lasting astir 30 metres, are utilized successful the upgrading process, wherever tarry oilsands bitumen is converted into a lighter crude that tin past beryllium refined into fuel.

In a website station past twelvemonth erstwhile 1 of the drums was being transported from Edmonton to the mine, Suncor said the load took up the full width of the road, including the enarthrosis lanes.

The outage astatine the upgrader — 1 of 2 astatine the excavation — began connected May 1 and is expected to past 91 days.

Shelley Powell, the Suncor elder vice-president successful complaint of large superior projects, says the archetypal large crane assistance of instrumentality was successfully completed implicit the weekend.

The task is utilizing 1 of the biggest cranes successful the world, the Mammoet PTC210DS.

"We were truly good prepared. We person each of the pre-work done, and that included really doing immoderate aboriginal readying and preparatory lifts," Powell told Suncor's first-quarter league telephone Wednesday.

"So we practised immoderate of this worldly up of clip to marque definite we had the instrumentality successful the close spot, we had radical trained and acceptable to go, and everybody knew what their relation was going to be."

Powell added that immoderate of the operators progressive successful the task person acquisition doing akin heavy-lifting jobs elsewhere successful the world.

CEO Rich Kruger said collaboration betwixt antithetic teams is cardinal to pulling disconnected a task of this scale.

"We person to beryllium seamless successful our execution and our handoffs," helium told investors. "We won't state triumph until we're done, but we consciousness rather bully astir our level of mentation and planning."

Desjardins Securities expert Chris McCulloch said successful a enactment that overmuch is riding connected the coke drum replacement going according to plan.

"Maintaining operational momentum volition beryllium pivotal for Suncor entering the heaviest agelong of scheduled attraction this year," helium wrote.

"In our view, occurrence of the Base Plant and different planned turnarounds volition materially interaction the company's quality to execute its 2025 accumulation guidance and (capital expenditure) targets, which we support person been conservatively set."

Production, earnings for archetypal 3 months of 2025

Late Tuesday, Suncor said its accumulation for the archetypal 3 months of 2025 was 853,000 barrels of lipid per day, refining throughput was 483,000 barrels per time and refined merchandise income were 605,000 barrels per day.

All 3 measures acceptable caller first-quarter records for the company.

Net net for the archetypal 3 months of 2025 were $1.69 billion, up from $1.61 cardinal during the aforesaid 2024 period.

That amounted to $1.36 per stock versus $1.25 per share.

Gross revenues were $13.33 billion, compared to $13.31 cardinal a twelvemonth earlier.

Adjusted operating earnings, a measurement Suncor says provides a amended examination betwixt quarters, were $1.63 billion, down from $1.82 billion, which it says was owed to little crude lipid sales.

Chief fiscal serviceman Kris Smith said Suncor is positioned good to upwind a West Texas Intermediate crude terms of US$60 per barrel, the level it's been hovering astir successful caller weeks.