Suncor Energy Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Suncor Energy Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. Please be advised that today's conference may be recorded. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. If you require any further assistance, please press star and zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Trevor Bell, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning. Welcome to SunQuarter's third quarter earnings call. With me this morning are Mark Little, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Alistair Callen, Chief Financial Officer. Please note that today's comments contain forward-looking information. The actual results may differ materially from the expected results because of various risk factors and assumptions that are described in our third quarter earnings release as well as our annual information form. Both are available on CDAR, EDGAR, and our website, suncor.com. Certain financial measures referred to in these comments are not prescribed by Canadian GAAP. For a description of these financial measures, please see our third quarter earnings release. Following formal remarks, we'll open up the call to questions. Now, I'll hand it over to Mark for his comments.

Great. Thanks, Trevor, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Suncor's third quarter results delivered in three key areas, operational excellence, increased shareholder returns, and significant debt reduction. Suncor delivered $2.6 billion of funds from operations for the third quarter and while also completing the most significant maintenance year in our history on budget. The downstream produced nearly $1 billion of funds from operations, which included approximately $80 million of FIFO gains. This performance marked the third best set of Q3 results for the downstream in its history. Year-to-date, we have reduced the company's net debt balance by more than $3 billion, and returned over $2.6 billion to shareholders in the forms of dividends and buybacks by allocating over 70% of our funds from operations, including the tax refund received earlier this quarter. Reviewing the progress we made on our commitments from earlier this year, our nine-month annualized cash return is 9%. We've bought back over 4% of the company's shares since the program's initiation in February. The company's net debt level has been returned to year-end 2019 levels, and we remain on target to deliver our capital in line with expectations. In short, we are meeting or exceeding our commitments. Our confidence in our operations and the pace in which we're executing our plan allows us to increase shareholder returns by doubling the current dividend to annually $1.68 per share or back to the 2019 levels, increasing the buyback by a further 2% to 7% by February of 2022, all while expecting our net debt to be near the top end of our 2025 target range by this year end, given the favorable macro backdrop. Turning to operating performance, Upstream delivered 700,000 barrels per day of production in the third quarter. Oilsand's operations production of 370,000 barrels per day reflects the planned five-year U2 turnaround. This was partially mitigated by 90% utilization for in situ, in spite of completing the planned maintenance at firebank. Looking at year-to-date cash operating costs of $25 per barrel Canadian, we are progressing extremely well towards the bottom end of our full-year cash operating costs per barrel guidance. Syncrude achieved 185,000 barrels a day of production with 91% utilization for the quarter and cash operating costs of $31 per barrel. At the end of the quarter, on September 30th, we assumed operatorship of Syncrude, a critical milestone towards achieving the previously communicated $100 million in annual synergies in the first six months of operatorship and $300 million in total annual synergies by the end of 2023. These synergies will contribute to achieve the cash operating cost target of $30 per barrel at Syncrude. Port Hill's production of 51,000 barrels per day reflects a one-train operation. We have made significant progress on overburden removal and slope stability, and as a result anticipate achieving full rates by year-end. We're right on plan with what we stated before, and we'll have both trains at full rates intermittently in November and December to ensure a seamless transition to full operating mode. Our expectation for 2022 cash operating costs per barrel is in the mid-20s, with an incremental 45,000 barrels per day of production. In our E&P operations, Q3 production of 94,000 barrels per day was an increase from Q2. However, our funds from operations of $360 million reflects an inventory build associated with the timing of cargo sales. The sale of Golden Eagle was completed on October 22nd with cash receipt of approximately $250 million U.S. In the downstream, you will recall that we completed significant maintenance at all of our refineries in the second quarter. And as a result, we're very well positioned to take advantage of the demand recovery in the third quarter and the refineries operated at 99% utilization with nearly $1 billion of funds from operations. Compared to the $3.8 to $3.9 billion for full-year funds from operations in 2018 and 2019 from the downstream, the third quarter is in line with that run rate, with slightly better cracking margins, but also with some significant headwinds. Average sweet and heavy differentials were $4 a barrel U.S. narrower. the Canadian dollar was 5% stronger, and natural gas prices were 125% higher. In short, while the headline funds from operations this quarter is comparable to our 2018-2019 run rate, there were considerable headwinds that we were able to offset through strategic improvements and investments in our supply and trading and logistics assets to further our competitive advantage. As discussed during Investor Day, the investments we've made and continue to make to achieve our $2 billion of incremental free funds flow initiatives are building a business that's more resilient and stronger than ever before. As incremental demand continues to recover, we expect to capture higher margins. Reflecting back on the second and third quarter of this year, we delivered $5 billion of funds from operations or nearly $3.50 per share. despite completing the highest maintenance activity across base plants, syncrude, and all of the refineries in our history, and with Fort Hills operating at one train. Our assets continue to operate at strong rates, which positions us for significant improvement to our free funds flow generation in the fourth quarter and into 2022 and beyond. I'll now hand it over to Alistair to go through our financial highlights.