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| And when I think about it we – Kris mentioned some of the reasons why we were able to run our refineries full, why they are economic, and we have got some structural advantages in terms of our G2D, our location, our connectivity to upstream, as well as our retail business |
| Downstream margin capture was strong in the quarter at 103% on a LIFO basis when compared to Suncor’s 5-2-2-1 refining index, primarily driven by higher realizations from seasonal diesel differentials, over the previous quarter |
| We have the ability to move barrels literally day-to-day, week-to-week to get the highest value |
| We are seeing some really promising signals on some of the early sites that we have developed, and we are going to continue that through the next few years |
| We began implementing that in 2023, and that’s going to – that is actually delivering very well for us |
| We had our best ever recordable incident rate in the downstream and our second best ever in the upstream |
| Now, as I wrap up, I want to share with you two less visible, but also I believe very, very fundamental changes we have and are making at the company that will contribute to continued improved performance |
| And combined, they were 3% higher than our previous best ever |
| How? Operational excellence by our site teams and our unique inter-site physical integration |
| So given that I am really proud of the organization, how it did perform despite that |
| Fundamentally, we as a company, we will improve our cost performance as our mining business improves its performance |
| And that’s really where we are focused and our team is really excited about it |
| We achieved external guidance for the first time in 6 years, highest ever annual production at Syncrude in its 45 year history and at Firebag in its 20 year history |
| I think the momentum that we’ve created, and I can comment on how, we’re doing through the first half of the first quarter, if folks would like, I think we’re in a really good position to focus |
| So, there are some opportunities in the dollar per barrel OpEx side of things, but our bigger opportunity is our ability to capture value |
| And I feel really good that we put a lot of that in place now |
| And our rack forward business was – just continues to be strong and provides a nice cushion |
| Our trading organization has done a great job in the fourth quarter, continues in the first quarter, to move volumes off the coast at really good netbacks |
| That ability to move diesel across both coasts and ability to move volume between the two regions East to West on rail is a real good advantage for us to allow us to take advantage of that |
| The benefits of this is our common operating standards, applications of best practices, and natural improvement networks across the company |
| I would say the early results in this are positive: greater clarity, accountability |
| As we look at the year, I think first and foremost, it has achieved our volume growth commitments |
| Strong margin capture gives you the economics to run full, and we saw both |
| Well, in the year, we high graded our asset portfolio to strengthen our competitive advantage and add shareholder value |
| And I think with the investment that we made in the trucks, as I mentioned before, and the productivity improvements the team is driving, coupled with autonomous, that gives us more mining flexibility |
| But we ran full and saw a strong margin capture |
| Running full allows you to capture strong margin capture |
| Fourth quarter, I would characterize it as strong results across the board, safety, upstream production, downstream reliability, cost management |
| Fixed plant assets at Fort Hills are extremely robust, and we’re confident that we can push high volumes to the back end of that facility |
| Every time the capture goes over 100%, we view that very favorably |
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| We missed our refining utilization guidance by a couple percent, really attributed to a slow recovery in the first half of the year at Commerce City |
| And we had disappointing project execution at Terra Nova and the subsequent delayed start-up, with the ramp up of that asset now going on |
| And we do have some headwinds |
| The team is challenged to go out and find $1 a ton |
| We win and lose as a team |
| So yes, we had a bit of a slow spot in the mining in the first couple of weeks of the year |
| A lot of things that could distract people from performing |
| Finally, natural gas, which is a key input cost to our operations remained low with AECO averaging CAD 2.15 at GJ in the quarter |
| We also saw synthetic crude oil premiums retreat in Q4 on the back of strong regional upgrading production and egress constraints, across the basin averaging about $0.30 a barrel above TI |
| We see that through January while gasoline cracks were low |
| I do think, if I take Fort Hills specifically, we would have been driving it down, if we go back a year or 2 ago, a little bit faster |
| An example, although early 2023, our cost per barrel was at, or below guidance across all upstream oil sand sites |
| The opening of the two pits in the North Mine has kind of delayed that a year or so |
| So you’ve rightly said that the challenge is ensuring that we feed it |
| So I would say the fourth quarter weather played a bit of a role, but not a big bit |
| And just to follow-up here, just looking ahead at the year, I know, a lot of these risks are completely unpredictable |
| And recall that I’ve said before, with all 55 in operation, that will lower our overall corporate breakeven about $1 per barrel, when they’re all up and running by the end of the year |
| But I would describe a lot of that change as disruptive and potentially distracting, new leadership team, people coming and going |
| I know that |
| So that has happened |
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