Calgary’s Suncor has gone from owning 12% of tar sands/oil sands producer Syncrude to controlling the company with nearly 54% of its shares, following its $937-million acquisition of a 5% stake owned by Murphy Oil of Texas, CBC News reports.
In mid-March, the country’s biggest producer of tar sands/oil sands synthetic crude acquired Canadian Oil Sands for $4.9 billion and delisted the company from public exchanges. COS’ Syncrude holdings raised Suncor’s position to 49%. Its latest purchase leaves ExxonMobil-controlled Imperial Oil, once the largest single shareholder in Syncrude and still its operator, as a minority investor.
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“This transaction is a strategic fit for our portfolio,” Suncor CEO Steve Williams said in a release, “given the quality of the resource, our existing interest in Syncrude, and the potential for value creation.”
Suncor, CBC adds, “has made no secret of its intention to scope out bargain deals during the prolonged downturn in oil prices.”
