Strathcona Resources Ltd. finished its year with a strong fourth quarter.
Strathcona’s fourth-quarter production was up 5 per cent quarter-over-quarter at 187 Mboe/d (thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day).
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The full-year production saw 183 Mboe/d. The year’s capital expenditures of $1.296 billion was under the budget of $1.3 billion.
Fourth-quarter free cash flow was negatively impacted but corresponding recoveries are expected in 2025 with excess heavy oil inventory being sold in January and the delayed capital expenditure deductions reducing 2025 royalties.
Cold Lake activities focused on the tie-in of eight new lower drainage wells on the D-east pad and eight new well pairs on the C-south pad in Tucker.
“Tucker has been a source of pride and excitement for the team here at Strathcona, and specifically, my business unit,” said Kim Chiu, president, SCR Cold Lake.
Early performance of both pads exceeded expectations with Tucker achieving an average production of more than 28 Mbbls/d (thousand barrels per day).
Strathcona talked about ensuring they made good use of what was already in the ground at their investor day.
“We talked about that laser focus on optimizing what we already had in the ground. So we went through that, restarted a bunch of wells, optimized and became more aggressive on the operating strategy,” said Chiu.
In Lloydminster, production growth was driven by record production of over 6 Mbbls/d at Druid. That’s up 35 per cent quarter-over-quarter, partially offset by production downturn in Strathcona’s Lloydminster thermal properties.
Montney saw the return of previously shut-in volumes in the fourth quarter at Groundbirch. This was due to improved natural gas pricing as well as record quarterly production of over 38 Mboe/d at Kakwa.
Strathcona also received approval for an expanded credit facility of approximately $2.75 billion.
They are also closely monitoring the implementation of U.S. tariffs, and so far, expect the financial impact to be largely mitigated.
Of the roughly 115 Mbbls/d of bitumen and heavy oil Strathcona produces, 85 Mbbls/d is sold in western Canada. The rest is sold in the United States Gulf Coast.
Strathcona will remain focused in 2025.
“In terms of 2025, we’re very focused on operational excellence and meeting the guidance that we’ve provided,” said Adam Waterous, managing partner & chief executive officer, Waterous Energy Fund.
Year-to-date production in 2025 has averaged approximately 195 Mboe/d. Strathcona will be re-evaluating their 2205 guidance of 185-195 Mboe/d mid-year.
Their 2025 capital budget of $1.35 billion is unchanged.
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