Projects / MacKay River

MacKay River

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

OperatorSuncor Energy Inc.
TypeSAGD
TickerSU
ST53 schemeMacKay River
DescriptionMacKay River is a steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in-situ oil sands project operated by Suncor. It is separate from the PetroChina MacKay River project, which is tracked separately under petrochina_mackay; the two share the same ST53 scheme name but are different facilities with different operators.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Celebrates One Billion Barrels of In Situ Production, via Investing News, 2022-11-24
StatusOperating.
Nameplate capacityThe facility produces about 38,000 barrels of bitumen per day during normal operations. Note: this is a stated operating rate, not a labeled nameplate.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Celebrates One Billion Barrels of In Situ Production, via Investing News, 2022-11-24

2025 full-year production was 33,000 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 MacKay River.
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 / expansionsNo sanctioned expansion disclosed in reviewed sources.
Company-disclosed maintenanceSuncor's 2026 corporate guidance disclosed maintenance at MacKay River with a quarterly production and cost effect. Specific duration not disclosed.
Source: Suncor Energy, Suncor Energy announces 2026 corporate guidance, 2025-12-11

not disclosed in reviewed sources
Operating costsPer-barrel operating cost for MacKay River 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

41.7 kb/d
latest actual, Jul 2026 (MacKay River (Suncor))
41.6 kb/d
12-month forecast average, Oct 2026 to Sep 2027
MacKay River (Suncor) monthly production MacKay River (Suncor) monthly production kb/d 0.0 12.5 25.0 37.5 50.0 Aug 25: 45.7 kb/d Sep 25: 27.1 kb/d Oct 25: 32.4 kb/d Nov 25: 44.2 kb/d Dec 25: 43.8 kb/d Jan 26: 44.2 kb/d Feb 26: 44.7 kb/d Mar 26: 41.6 kb/d Apr 26: 44.3 kb/d May 26: 46.3 kb/d Jun 26: 43.9 kb/d Jul 26: 41.7 kb/d Aug 26: 45.0 kb/d Sep 26: 19.0 kb/d Oct 26: 39.4 kb/d Nov 26: 45.0 kb/d Dec 26: 44.1 kb/d Jan 27: 44.3 kb/d Feb 27: 45.2 kb/d Mar 27: 44.6 kb/d Apr 27: 44.8 kb/d May 27: 41.2 kb/d Jun 27: 44.3 kb/d Jul 27: 42.9 kb/d Aug 27: 45.0 kb/d Sep 27: 19.0 kb/d 19.0 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: MacKay River (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
MacKay River (Suncor)44.741.644.346.343.941.7
First forecast months (kb/d)
SeriesOct 2026Nov 2026Dec 2026Jan 2027Feb 2027Mar 2027
MacKay River (Suncor)39.445.044.144.345.244.6

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 MacKay River (Suncor): Sep 2027 dip to 15.0 lines up with its pattern-indicated turnaround month (Sep flagged 6 of 7 years). Strongest seasonal signal in the roster; indicator only, not in the model math.

Maintenance

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

Forward calendar (Oct 2026 to Sep 2027)

TimingEventImpact kb/dStandingSource
Sep 2027Turnaroundnot stated (null, never estimated)Pattern indicated (indicator only)None, ST53 seasonal dip analysis (repo-computed, AER ST53) (2026-09-22)

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

Outlook

Named assumptions: Sep 2027 dip to 15.0 lines up with its pattern-indicated turnaround month (Sep flagged 6 of 7 years). Strongest seasonal signal in the roster; indicator only, not in the model math.

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, MacKay River output is unchanged by upgrader outages and any upgrader-bound share is assumed diverted to dilbit, so its 41.6 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

MacKay River (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.