Higher capex needed for projected oil sands growth

Producers are not necessarily using their cash on oil sands output

Time will not wait for the oil sands. An end to oil sands mega-projects brought rapid production growth to an abrupt halt and now major questions hang over even the moderate growth that has been forecast for at least another decade. The lingering optimism is driven by investments to optimise past projects and continuing development of smaller scale in situ projects. However, based on recent performance, major oil sands producers will not achieve even moderate growth in the coming years unless they ramp up their capital spending budgets significantly more than the rate of inflation. Suncor’s oil sands output growth was the highest of the four major producers in 2022 Capital spending b