Suncor Energy to boost spending next year to as much as $7.3 billion

CALGARY – Suncor Energy has set a capital budget for 2016 that’s $900 million higher than what it expects to spend this year.

That’s despite the company’s gloomy outlook for commodity prices next year: U.S. benchmark crude unchanged at US$50 a barrel and a Canadian heavy oil price that’s $2 lower than this year’s forecast.

Canada’s dominant oilsands producer aims to spend between $6.7 billion and $7.3 billion next year — a range it says offers the flexibility to respond to changing market conditions.

In October, Suncor said it was on track to finish 2015 with capital expenditures of between $5.8 billion and $6.4 billion.

Company-wide output next year is expected come in at between 525,000 and 565,000 barrels a day.

It’s lower than this year’s projected range of between 550,000 and 595,000 barrels a day because of planned maintenance that’s to take place at some oilsands projects.

Cash costs in the oilsands are seen dropping by a dollar a barrel to between $27 and $30.

In October, Suncor (TSX:SU) launched an all-stock hostile takeover bid for Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (TSX:COS) worth about $6.9 billion when the target company’s debt is taken in to account.