Suncor ratcheting up output of diesel, jet fuel to meet surging global demand

The Suncor Energy refinery in Montreal, is photographed on Friday, June 20, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov)

Suncor Energy Inc. is sending high-demand products like jet fuel and diesel from its Canadian refineries to a variety of far-flung global destinations as strife in the Middle East continues to squeeze supplies.

In March, the Calgary-based oilsands producer, oil refiner and fuel retailer made sales in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, “both at significant premiums to market pricing,” chief financial officer Troy Little told analysts on a conference call Wednesday.

“We have spent years building up the logistics and commercial capabilities to act on opportunities just like these, and that investment paid off meaningfully this past quarter.”

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Refined product sales for the first three months of 2026 were 680,900 barrels per day, up more than 12 per cent from the same period a year earlier, Suncor said in its latest financial report released late Tuesday.

Sales of distillate — a category that encompasses diesel — were 318,100 barrels per day during the first quarter, a jump of 21 per cent from a year earlier.

Dave Oldreive, executive vice-president of Suncor’s downstream business said “we had a pretty unique market present itself” in March, after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran, leading to a halt in tanker traffic out of the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. The crisis has led to ongoing price spikes and even shortages in some parts of the world.

“We took the opportunity to scale up our logistics systems on export to capture margins that were uniquely more profitable than Canadian alternatives,” he said.

For example, 14 diesel cargoes were able to sail from Suncor’s dock in Vancouver in the quarter. For the entirety of last year, 28 cargoes left from that location.

Suncor has made a relatively small $100,000 investment in its Edmonton refinery to increase diesel yields by 16,000 barrels a day, Oldreive added. It also had the fortuitous timing of starting to produce jet fuel at its refinery in Montreal in December, with the initial plan to sell that to local airports.

“And then we saw this unique market blowout in the first quarter and continuing into the second quarter where jet fuel became pretty short in certain markets,” Oldreive said.

“The team in Montreal was able to work across our whole value chain to come up with a logistics option and quality certification to export jet (fuel).”

Suncor’s jet fuel has since made forays into the Caribbean and European markets.

Executives at Imperial Oil Ltd. said last week that it too was prioritizing diesel and jet fuel output at its refineries, with an eye to tapping more export markets.

Meanwhile, Suncor shares were trading more than six per cent lower on the TSX on a day when oil prices were off by about the same amount.

A day earlier, Suncor delivered quarterly operational results CEO Rich Kruger said “could have been better.”

Suncor achieved record first-quarter upstream production of 875,200 barrels per day, up year-over-year from 853,200 barrels.

But oilsands operations had some challenges, as upgrading equipment at the Syncrude mine had to be taken off-line for repairs in frigid temperatures and a third-party natural gas pipeline outage in the Fort McMurray, Alta., area crimped output.

The Firebag steam-driven oilsands project — which Kruger likens jokingly to his “favourite child” — was at near-record rates of 247,000 barrels per day.

An analyst asked the CEO what he would be watching for to ensure that project “remains in its good graces.”

Kruger said Firebag is “literally a playground of opportunities” to try out different techniques and technologies to improve operations.

“I really, really love all my kids; just happen to love a few of them maybe a little bit more at times,” he quipped.

“And Firebag’s sitting there right on my knee, getting all my attention.”

Suncor’s net earnings for the first quarter came in at $2.1 billion, up from $1.69 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The profit amounted to $1.77 per share, higher than the $1.36 it earned per share during the first three months of 2025. On an adjusted basis the earnings were $1.93, besting the average analyst estimate of $1.79, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Gross revenues jumped to $15.42 billion for the three months ended March 31 from $13.33 billion in the same period a year earlier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2026.

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press