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

Oilsands giant Suncor Energy Inc. has begun a three-month outage at one of its upgraders so it can begin to replace enormous components first installed almost six decades ago.

The Calgary-based company is in the midst of a multi-year project to replace eight original coke drums dating back to 1967 at its Base Mine site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., with the goal of extending the upgrader's life by 30 years.

The drums, weighing 270 tonnes and standing nearly 30 metres, are used in the upgrading process, where tarry oilsands bitumen is converted into a lighter crude that can then be refined into fuel.

In a website post last year when one of the drums was being transported from Edmonton to the mine, Suncor said the load took up the entire width of the road, including the shoulder lanes.

The outage at the upgrader — one of two at the mine — began on May 1 and is expected to last 91 days.

Shelley Powell, the Suncor senior vice-president in charge of major capital projects, says the first major crane lift of equipment was successfully completed over the weekend.

The project is using one of the biggest cranes in the world, the Mammoet PTC210DS.

"We were really well prepared. We have all of the pre-work done, and that included actually doing some early planning and preparatory lifts," Powell told Suncor's first-quarter conference call Wednesday.

"So we practised some of this stuff ahead of time to make sure we had the equipment in the right spot, we had people trained and ready to go, and everybody knew what their role was going to be."

Powell added that some of the operators involved in the project have experience doing similar heavy-lifting jobs elsewhere in the world.

CEO Rich Kruger said collaboration between different teams is key to pulling off a project of this scale.

"We have to be seamless in our execution and our handoffs," he told investors. "We won't declare victory until we're done, but we feel quite good about our level of preparation and planning."

Desjardins Securities analyst Chris McCulloch said in a note that much is riding on the coke drum replacement going according to plan.

"Maintaining operational momentum will be pivotal for Suncor entering the heaviest stretch of scheduled maintenance this year," he wrote.

"In our view, success of the Base Plant and other planned turnarounds will materially impact the company's ability to achieve its 2025 production guidance and (capital expenditure) targets, which we maintain have been conservatively set."

Production, earnings for first three months of 2025

Late Tuesday, Suncor said its production for the first three months of 2025 was 853,000 barrels of oil per day, refining throughput was 483,000 barrels per day and refined product sales were 605,000 barrels per day.

All three measures set new first-quarter records for the company.

Net earnings for the first three months of 2025 were $1.69 billion, up from $1.61 billion during the same 2024 period.

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

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

Adjusted operating earnings, a measure Suncor says provides a better comparison between quarters, were $1.63 billion, down from $1.82 billion, which it says was due to lower crude oil sales.

Chief financial officer Kris Smith said Suncor is positioned well to weather a West Texas Intermediate crude price of US$60 per barrel, the level it's been hovering around in recent weeks.