Suncor: Fort Hills oilsands mine a-go with $13.5-billion pricetag

CALGARY – Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU) says its Fort Hills oilsands mine is a go after years of delay.

Canada’s largest energy company says the project’s total cost — shared between Suncor and partners Total E&P and Teck Resources Ltd. — is now $13.5 billion.

The project is expected to start producing oil in late 2017, at the earliest, ramping up to its full capacity of 180,000 barrels per day within 12 months.

It’s expected to account for about 15 per cent of Suncor’s total capital budget on average per year.

Suncor CEO Steve Williams says Fort Hills is one of the best undeveloped oilsands assets in the Athabasca region.

Fort Hills was shelved at onset of the 2008 financial crisis as costs skyrocketed; at the time it was to be operated by Petro-Canada, which Suncor acquired in mid-2009.