Insight
Canada oil sands Q4 2021: steaming through the deep freeze
*Please note that this report only includes an Excel data file if this is indicated in "What's included" below
Report summary
Even with a deep freeze in weather over December and early January, most oil sands operators managed to continue to pump record volumes of bitumen and generate red hot earnings in Q4 2021. Rises in global benchmarks led to modest improvements in Canadian benchmark WCS, and in Q4 price realizations, which were up slightly on average. Strong operating performance for most operators continued in Q4, with many projects exceeding previous peaks. Large Canadian operators continued to return excess capital to shareholders in the quarter through a mixture of dividends and share buybacks, and continued the balance sheet improvement with significant debt retirement.
Table of contents
- Executive summary
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Benchmark crude prices
- WCS price performance
- Bitumen and SCO realised prices
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Oil sands production
- In situ production
- Mining production
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Other topics
- Earnings, shareholder capital return, debt reduction, & investment
- Share repurchases
- Dividends
- Debt reduction
- Investment
Tables and charts
This report includes the following images and tables:
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Benchmark pricesBenchmark price performanceHistorical WCS pricing
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Realised pricingIn situ projects producing >40 kb/dIn situ projects producing <40 kb/dMining project production2021 annual distributions
What's included
This report contains:
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