Suncor Profits Fall 28% On Oil Price Lows

The Canadian oil group Suncor Energy, which is the world's second biggest miner of oil sands, said that first quarter net income fell twenty eight percent because of the decline in the price of oil. Net income fell to C$90 million ($57.6 million), or 37 Canadian cents a share after payment of preferred dividends, from C$125 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier. Revenue fell by 3.3 percent to C$1.05 billion from C$1.09 billion, the company said in a statement. Calgary based Suncor's earnings were hurt by a power outage that reduced output from its oil sands mine and refinery in northeastern Alberta. First quarter output from the plant, where oil laden sand is mined and refined into a liquid, was 179,300 barrels a day, as much as ten percent lower than Suncor had expected. Production costs at Suncor's oil sands plant near Fort McMurray, Alberta, rose by twenty nine percent to C$16.35 a barrel because of the shutdown and other maintenance work at the facility. The company said it now expects operating costs to average C$12.50 for the year and output to average 200,000 barrels a day.