Rising oil price doesn’t shake industry talk on spending discipline

Ensign Drilling Rg 423 east of Benson drilling for Whitecap Resources on Jan. 27. Frobisher wells like this have been a major focus of drilling in southeast Saskatchewan. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

TORONTO — The price of oil has been on a steady climb all year, but the talk at Canada’s biggest oil and gas conference is still focused on spending discipline.

Industry leaders at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers conference, held in Toronto this year, have been emphasizing their predictability and focus on returning money to shareholders, rather than talk of growth.

Suncor chief executive Rich Kruger says his goal is to make the company “consistently and boringly excellent,” so that there are no surprises for investors.

Kruger, who was appointed head of Canada’s largest oil and gas producer last year, says he’s been working to simplify the company’s operations, and fix past mistakes based on faulty assumptions.

That’s especially the case at the Fort Hills oilsands project, which he says had some design issues because it was built for a world of resource scarcity, where production growth was synonymous with value growth.

Even with oil up about US$15 per barrel so far this year to US$85, industry leaders at the conference have been emphasizing that they no longer see production growth as so deeply tied to value, and that each added barrel has to be weighed against returning money to shareholders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SU)

The Canadian Press

News from © The Canadian Press, 2023. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

• 0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO
  0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO
• 0078 LHOS 2024
  0078 LHOS 2024
• 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
  0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
• 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda
  0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda
• 0076 Latus only
  0076 Latus only
• 0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online
  0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online
• 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
  0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
• 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
  0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
• 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
  0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
• 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
  0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
• 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
  0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
• 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
  0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
• 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
  0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
• 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
• 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
• 0022 Grimes winter hiring
• 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
• 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
• 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
• 0011
• 0006 JK Junior
• 0002 gilliss casing services
  0002 gilliss casing services
• 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
  9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
• 9001