Projects / Firebag

Firebag

Suncor Energy Inc.
Pattern-indicated maintenance: May 2027 (indicator only, no volume in model math)SAGDSU

OperatorSuncor Energy Inc.
TypeSAGD
TickerSU
ST53 schemeFirebag
DescriptionFirebag is a steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in-situ oil sands project in the Athabasca region. Bitumen is processed before being piped to Suncor's upgrading facilities or direct to market. It is part of Suncor's Oil Sands Operations segment.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Celebrates One Billion Barrels of In Situ Production, via Investing News, 2022-11-24
StatusOperating.
Nameplate capacityNameplate capacity of 215,000 bbl/d of bitumen, disclosed after completion of incremental emulsion-handling and steam-infrastructure integration work.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor reports fourth quarter 2020 results, 2021-02-09

Firebag achieved record annual production of 217,000 bbl/d in 2023, above the stated nameplate.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Energy achieves 2023 upstream production corporate guidance, 2024-01-03

2025 full-year production was 248,000 bbl/d of bitumen.
Source: Suncor Energy, Q4 2025 investor presentation
Start-up / phasesnot tracked in the public data used here
Ownership / JV splitSuncor Energy Inc. owns 100% and operates Firebag.
Source: Suncor Energy, Q4 2025 investor presentation
Product and dispositionBitumen: flexible disposition, dilbit to market or upgrader feed (economically optimized)
Source: Dashboard grade-layer panel (leaf mapping lineage); disposition defaults from annotations/maintenance_disposition_history.md
Process / technologySAGD. Bitumen is processed before being piped to Suncor's upgrading facilities or direct to market.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Celebrates One Billion Barrels of In Situ Production, via Investing News, 2022-11-24
Froth treatmentnot applicable (in-situ / upgrading)
Interconnectsnot tracked in the public data used here
Growth / expansionsA cogeneration project at Firebag was under construction to replace older energy infrastructure (disclosed as part of Suncor's optimization and free-funds-flow program).
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor reports fourth quarter 2020 results, 2021-02-09

No new sanctioned capacity expansion disclosed in reviewed sources.
Company-disclosed maintenanceSuncor's 2026 corporate guidance disclosed a major Firebag turnaround with a quarterly production and cost effect. Specific duration was not disclosed in the release summary.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Energy announces 2026 corporate guidance, 2025-12-11

not disclosed in reviewed sources
Operating costsPer-barrel operating cost for Firebag specifically: not disclosed. Suncor's 2026 Oil Sands Operations cost guidance (which includes Base Plant, Firebag, and MacKay River) is $26 to $29/bbl.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Energy announces 2026 corporate guidance, 2025-12-11

Blank "not tracked" cells are facts not present in the public data used here. They are labeled, never estimated. Filing-sourced facts carry their document name and date; where sources disclose multiple bases for one figure, all are shown.

Production

305.7 kb/d
latest actual, Jul 2026 (Firebag (Suncor))
293.4 kb/d
12-month forecast average, Oct 2026 to Sep 2027
Firebag (Suncor) monthly production Firebag (Suncor) monthly production kb/d 0.0 125.0 250.0 375.0 500.0 Aug 25: 308.4 kb/d Sep 25: 312.7 kb/d Oct 25: 309.7 kb/d Nov 25: 320.7 kb/d Dec 25: 313.8 kb/d Jan 26: 321.9 kb/d Feb 26: 311.8 kb/d Mar 26: 304.3 kb/d Apr 26: 273.9 kb/d May 26: 132.4 kb/d Jun 26: 305.3 kb/d Jul 26: 305.7 kb/d Aug 26: 297.7 kb/d Sep 26: 288.5 kb/d Oct 26: 296.1 kb/d Nov 26: 297.9 kb/d Dec 26: 305.1 kb/d Jan 27: 297.4 kb/d Feb 27: 293.5 kb/d Mar 27: 297.2 kb/d Apr 27: 295.0 kb/d May 27: 292.5 kb/d Jun 27: 294.1 kb/d Jul 27: 265.6 kb/d Aug 27: 297.7 kb/d Sep 27: 288.5 kb/d 288.5 Aug 25 Oct 25 Dec 25 Feb 26 Apr 26 Jun 26 Aug 26 Oct 26 Dec 26 Feb 27 Apr 27 Jun 27 Aug 27 Sep 27
Vintage: AER ST53 actuals through 2026-07 (ST39 through 2026-05), pulled 2026-09-22; Aug-Sep 2026 nowcast estimated, built 2026-09-23; forecast built 2026-09-22. Solid orange shading marks months with modeled maintenance on this series. Dashed shading marks pattern-indicated months (indicator only, no volume in the model math). Series: Firebag (Suncor).
Actuals (AER)Nowcast (model est.)Forecast (model)Modeled maintenance monthPattern-indicated (not in model math)
Latest actuals (kb/d)
SeriesFeb 2026Mar 2026Apr 2026May 2026Jun 2026Jul 2026
Firebag (Suncor)311.8304.3273.9132.4305.3305.7
First forecast months (kb/d)
SeriesOct 2026Nov 2026Dec 2026Jan 2027Feb 2027Mar 2027
Firebag (Suncor)296.1297.9305.1297.4293.5297.2

Full 26-month table with drill-down lives in the trading dashboard. Blank cells are months AER has not published yet, not zeros.

How to read Firebag (Suncor): May dip is seasonal (May flagged 5 of 16 years, incl. the 2026 major turnaround). Next major turnaround is on the stated 5-year cycle, around 2031.

Maintenance

No maintenance events in the current model math for this project.

Forward calendar (Oct 2026 to Sep 2027)

TimingEventImpact kb/dStandingSource
May 2027Turnaroundnot stated (null, never estimated)Pattern indicated (indicator only)None, ST53 seasonal dip analysis (repo-computed, AER ST53) (2026-09-22)
2031 (year precision)Scheduled (future window)not stated (null, never estimated)Guidance sourcedSuncor Energy Inc., Suncor Energy Q2 2026 earnings call transcript (2026-08-05)

Pattern-indicated entries are indicators only: they carry no volume and never enter model math. Math requires public-confirmed guidance.

Outlook

Named assumptions: May dip is seasonal (May flagged 5 of 16 years, incl. the 2026 major turnaround). Next major turnaround is on the stated 5-year cycle, around 2031.

Confirmation status: model forecast; maintenance impacts enter the math only from public-confirmed guidance.

Market relevance

In-situ bitumen has flexible disposition (dilbit to market or upgrader feed). In the model, Firebag output is unchanged by upgrader outages and any upgrader-bound share is assumed diverted to dilbit, so its 293.4 kb/d 12-month forecast average is a steady contributor to marketable dilbit across the tradable window.

Basis: model-derived from the dashboard series above; no external view is added.

Related weekly notes

Sources

Firebag (Suncor)
Source: AER ST53, commercial scheme mapping (repo annotations/projects.yaml)
Vintage: AER ST53 actuals through 2026-07, pulled 2026-09-22; model nowcast (_seasonal_baseline + confirmed maintenance), built 2026-09-23
Method: actuals: ST53 scheme observed, grossed up by 1.27 to ST3 in-situ level (mapped projects cover 79.0%). forecast: _seasonal_baseline (trailing-12m mean x seasonal factor from last 3 complete years).

Full citation block

Sources
PublisherDatasetURLPublishedVintage / coverageRetrieved
Alberta Energy RegulatorST3: Alberta Energy Resource Industries Monthly Statisticshttps://www.aer.ca/data-and-performance/data-and-publications/statistical-reports/st3MonthlyActuals through 2026-07 (latest file vintage 2026-08-27)2026-09-22
Alberta Energy RegulatorST53: In-situ project data (BITUMEN sheet)https://www.aer.ca/data-and-performance/data-and-publications/statistical-reports/st53MonthlyActuals through 2026-072026-09-22
Alberta Energy RegulatorST39: Mine and upgrader facility dataURL not recorded in repoMonthlyActuals through 2026-052026-09-22
Canada Energy RegulatorPipeline throughput, capacity and apportionment (open data)https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/open/energy/throughput-capacity/Monthly, ~3-month lagJan 2018 to Jun 20262026-09-22
Company disclosuresQuarterlies, budget releases, investor presentations, earnings callsURLs per record in annotations/maintenance_forward.yamlAs publishedForward maintenance calendar window 2026-10-01 to 2027-09-30, compiled 2026-09-222026-09-22
Heavy Reading modelWCSB S&D dashboard build (21 granular leaves, grade layer, maintenance math)No public URL (repo build)Per buildForecast built 2026-09-22; Aug-Sep 2026 nowcast built 2026-09-232026-09-23

Every number on this page traces to a row above. Anything missing its own source line is flagged in place; nothing ships with an unsourced number.

Heavy Reading · the WCSB supply letter.
Public information only: AER ST3/ST39/ST53 and company disclosures via the WCSB S&D model. Nothing here is licensed data, so this page renders the same with or without ?public=1.