Suncor to lay out plans for long-term bitumen supply this spring

By Amanda Stephenson

CALGARY, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Canadian oil sands producer Suncor Energy SU.TO will present the market this spring with options it is considering for securing long-term bitumen supply, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.

The bitumen supply question will be one of the central themes of a new long-term vision the company plans to unveil at a March 31 investor day, Rich Kruger told analysts on a conference call.

"We know it needs to be bold and ambitious, clear and compelling, to keep your interest and support," Kruger said.

Calgary-based Suncor has spent a number of years exploring options to sustain the supply of thick, sticky oil sands crude to its Base Plant upgrading facilities north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Suncor's Base Plant has a production capacity of 350,000 barrels per day, according to the company's website, but its Base Plant mine is expected to be largely depleted by the mid-2030s.

One option the company has proposed is a new, 225,000-bpd, open-pit oil sands mine expansion, which would be located adjacent to its existing Base Plant operations.

However, it has not made a final investment decision to go ahead with the project and it remains unclear whether such a project would get the go-ahead from Canadian regulators.

Suncor has been framing its upcoming investor day as the beginning of the next phase of what has been a remarkable turnaround story for the company.

Less than four years ago, the company's previous CEO Mark Little resigned following a string of worker fatalities and operational mishaps that had resulted in Suncor shares significantly lagging its peers.

Kruger, a former Imperial Oil IMO.TO CEO, was coaxed out of retirement and tasked with reviving the company's flagging fortunes. Since then, Suncor's performance has improved dramatically. On Tuesday, it announced record fourth-quarter financial results, including a new high of 909,000 bpd of production.

The company has also reduced its WTI break-even price by $10 per barrel since 2024, relying on automation and workforce reductions to achieve its cost-cutting goals a year ahead of schedule.

The market is keenly awaiting Suncor's upcoming investor day to get a glimpse of what it plans, particularly with respect to potential capacity additions and longer-term capital expenditures, said TD Cowen analyst Menno Hulshof in a note.

"We are also hoping for improved visibility on how (Suncor's) portfolio/strategy could evolve over the next five, 10 or even 15 years. This remains a key investor question, in our view," Hulshof said.