DENVER (KDVR) — The Commerce City Suncor refinery’s temporary shutdown did make a dent in Suncor’s bottom line, but the Canadian oil and gas company still performed better than expected in the first quarter of 2023.
According to Reuters, Suncor’s profits outperformed expectations since energy demand has been strong globally. Analysts expected earnings of $1.32 Canadian dollars per share, but the company earned $1.36 Canadian dollars per share instead.
Still, profits were down in the first quarter of 2023 by nearly $700 million. Some of this was due to expenses related to Suncor’s Commerce City refinery.
Suncor’s expenses were about $400 million more in the first quarter of this year than in the same quarter in 2022.
“The increase was primarily due to increased maintenance costs,” reads a financial filing. “Including the impacts of repair activities at the company’s Commerce City refinery, inflationary impacts, increased mining activity and the company’s additional working interest in Fort Hills, partially offset by a decrease in share-based compensation expense.”
The Commerce City shutdown also cut into the company’s overall production.
“Refinery crude throughput was 367,700 bbls/d and refinery utilization was 79% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 436,500 bbls/d and 94% in the prior year quarter, with the decrease primarily due to the completion of repairs and subsequent progressive restart activities at the company’s Commerce City refinery, as the asset returned to operations by the end of the quarter.”