Suncor posts $2.73 billion income on Alberta tax recovery, higher oil output

CALGARY – Suncor Energy Inc. is reporting second-quarter net earnings of $2.73 billion or $1.74 per share, almost three times the $972 million or 60 cents it reported in the same period last year.

It says earnings were buoyed by a one-time deferred tax recovery of $1.12 billion associated with the staged Alberta corporate income tax rate cut of one per cent each year from 2019 to 2022.

The company also recorded an after-tax gain of $139 million on the sale of its 37 per cent interest in Canbriam Energy Inc. and a $221 million unrealized after-tax foreign exchange gain on U.S. dollar denominated debt.

Net earnings in the year-earlier quarter included an unrealized foreign exchange loss of $218 million on U.S. dollar debt.

Operating earnings were $1.25 billion for the three months ended June 30, compared with $1.19 billion a year earlier.

Suncor’s oilsands production rose to 692,200 barrels per day from 547,600 bpd despite the ongoing Alberta oil curtailment program, while non-oilsands output was 111,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to 114,100 boe/d.

“Suncor’s upstream assets produced more than 800,000 bpd of crude oil during the second quarter of 2019, marking a new second-quarter production record, while planned maintenance was completed at many of our oilsands assets,” CEO Mark Little said in a news release.

“In addition, the team was able to create significant value by opportunistically shifting production among our assets through this period of curtailment — another great example of the benefits that come from having a broad and flexible asset base.”

Suncor handily beat analyst expectations for net income of $1.44 billion, according to the financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

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