A Suncor Energy refinery in Montreal, June, 2025. Suncor reported earnings of $2.1-billion in the first quarter of this year, underscoring how sky-high oil prices and a dearth of global supplies have boosted the books of Canadian players.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
When Suncor Energy Inc. SU-T started refining jet fuel for the first time at its Montreal refinery in December, it expected to sell the product to local airports, maybe send a small amount to Ottawa.
Then, on Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran. In retaliation, the Gulf nation closed a vital shipping route, choking off a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies and triggering an energy crisis that has seen countries scramble to find the fuels they need to power their economies.
The timing of Suncor’s foray into jet fuel production in Montreal was prescient. Instead of supplying the domestic market, it pivoted to exports.
Suncor has significantly boosted its trade relationships in recent years, increasing its reach from roughly 20 countries to 45.
In March, Suncor sent diesel and jet fuel to the Philippines and Puerto Rico, “both at significant premiums to market pricing,” chief financial officer Troy Little told analysts during a Wednesday earnings call. Jet fuel from the Montreal refinery specifically has gone to the Caribbean and, last week, its first European cargo was sold into Rotterdam.
“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,” Mr. Little said.
Suncor’s first-quarter fiscal results, reported Tuesday evening, underscore just how much sky-high oil prices and a dearth of global supplies have boosted the books of Canadian players.
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Suncor reported earnings of $2.1-billion in the first quarter of this year. That’s up 50 per cent over the three months prior, and 24 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2025.
Similarly, Cenovus Energy Inc. CVE-T reported $1.6-billion earnings in the first three months of this year, up 68 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2025 and 82 per cent higher than the first three months of 2025.
The price of West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark, climbed to US$109.76 on Tuesday, compared with US$66.96 in February the day before the war began, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Last week, Brent crude, the international benchmark, soared to a wartime record of US$126 a barrel, and crude grades from the Middle East, North Atlantic and West Africa are also higher than their prewar price.
Chatter of a possible agreement between the U.S. and Iran caused global oil prices to plunge Wednesday. But for now, the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route remains all but closed, with no end to the impasse in sight.
The jury is still out on how Suncor’s new market opportunities play out, the company’s chief executive Rich Kruger told analysts. It will largely depend on how and when the conflict in Iran is resolved, and how Suncor can compete with customers’ alternatives once that happens.
Still, he believes that the company’s expanded marketing reach will endure over time.
“This is a strategy that continues to develop and unfold, and, with it, you’re seeing the higher sales volumes,” he said.
The Montreal refinery isn’t yet producing a whole lot of jet fuel, but it has the potential to grow to roughly 16,000 barrels a day.
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Aside from establishing trade relationships in the first place, “you’ve got to produce it to sell it” – and Suncor refined a record amount in the first quarter of this year, said Dave Oldreive, Suncor’s executive vice-president of downstream operations.
When countries that rely on products from the Middle East searched for alternate supplies, Suncor scaled up its logistics systems on export routes.
That included its Burrard Terminal located in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland. It’s the company’s most profitable and its lowest cost option for exports, and the one from which most of its West Coast diesel exports depart.
Suncor sent 14 cargoes in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 28 in all of 2025.
“We’ve been able to scale that up to capture a pretty unique opportunity and I’d expect us, depending on where the market goes, to have that ability going forward,” Mr. Oldreive said.