Suncor
began as the American based Sun Company Inc. In
1917, Sun started to supply lubricating oils,
kerosene, and spirits to Montreal plants for the war
effort. The company decided to open an office in
Montreal under the name Sun Company of Canada in
1919. The company began to ship in new product
lines in 1920 including fuel oil and gasoline by
rail from the United States. In the 1930s, further
expansion into the Canadian market continued with
the first Sunoco service stations opening in
Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City. The company also
built a lubricating oil and grease storage plant in
Toronto. Not until the 1940s did Sunoco develop oil
holdings in Canada with the drilling of its first
well, a dry hole in Nova Scotia. In an effort to
secure North American sources of oil for the United
States, Sun Company knew it must find producing
wells in Canada. In 1950, the company began a
three year core-hole drilling program in Alberta,
acquiring Lease 86, Sunoco’s existing oil sands
operation. The gamble paid off and the Sun Company’s
first successful well was at New Norway, Alberta.
The next major endeavor for Sun
Oil was described as the biggest gamble in history
by the industry, the ambitious Great Canadian Oil
Sands project that began in 1963. Sun invested almost a
quarter-billion dollars making it the largest
single private investment in the country at that
time. In 1964, construction of the oil sands
facilities at Fort McMurray began. Three years later
on 30 September 1967, the 45,000-barrel-per-day oil
sands plant in Fort McMurray was completed with the
price tag of $240 million. On the opening day,
Alberta Premier Ernest Manning said, "This is a red
letter day, not only for Canada but for all North
America. No other event in Canada's centennial year
is more important or significant."
The continued growth of the
company resulted in the formation of all the
Canadian operations of Sun Company Inc. being
amalgamated with Great Canadian Oil Sands to form
Suncor Inc. in 1979. During the 1980s, the company
continued to become a major force in Canada with a
part of Suncor being sold to the Province of
Ontario.
The last part of the century
brought strong fiscal developments for Suncor. In
1994, Suncor purchased a new lease across the
Athabasca River from the company's existing
operations. This was one way that the company could
expand their oil sands business. Diverse interests
helped: Suncor became a publicly traded company in
1992 with an initial share price equivalent to
$2.38. Further developments resulted in major stock
holder changes. The Government of Ontario divested
its interest in Suncor, and Sun Company Inc. reduced
its holdings to 55 percent. Next, Sun Company Inc.
of Philadelphia sold its remaining 55 percent
interest in Suncor. The company was now
predominately Canadian owned and moved its head
office from Toronto to Calgary because 60 percent
of Suncor's asset base was in Alberta.
The biggest success came in 1996
with the total of 500 million barrels of oil
produced since operations began in 1967. The company
wanted to place more emphasis on diversification of
the energy sector. A part of this was the Project
Millennium, begun in 1999. The goal was to increase
oil sands production to 225,000 barrels per day by
2002. They succeeded: Suncor increased its total
production by 53 percent to 239,500 barrels of oil
per day from 156,000 barrels per day in 2001. A
part of this growth may be attributed to Suncor’s
emphasis on renewable energy. Suncor made an
agreement with TransAlta to build, own, and operate a
$315-million facility at the oil sands. The project
provided Suncor with the energy in steam and
electricity that allowed increased production rates.
Suncor also announced plans to invest $100
million in alternative and renewable energy by 2005.
If the first few years of the
twenty-first century are any indication, Suncor will
enjoy even more commercial growth in the near
future. In 2003, Suncor gained the US Federal Trade
Commission permission to acquire ConocoPhillips’
Colorado refinery, as well as Phillips branded retail
stations, storage, pipeline, and distribution
facilities. Currently in 2005, Suncor submitted an
application to construct and operate a third oil
sands upgrader. The upgrader is a key component of
increasing oil production to the goal of a million
barrels per day.
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