Page 69 - AIF - English

any reason could disrupt our business and could result in In particular, East Coast Canada operations can be

decreased performance and increased costs, causing our impacted by winter storms, pack ice, icebergs and fog.
business and results of operations to suffer. Any significant During the winter storm season (October to March), the

interruption or failure of our information systems or any company may have to reduce production rates at its
significant breach of security could adversely affect our offshore facilities as a result of limited storage capacity and

business, financial condition, results of operations and the inability to offload to shuttle tankers due to wave
cash flow.
height restrictions. During the spring, pack ice and icebergs

For Suncor’s Oil Sands operations, mining oil sands ore, drifting in the area of our offshore facilities have resulted in
extracting bitumen from mined ore, producing bitumen precautionary shut in of FPSO production and drilling

through in situ methods, and upgrading bitumen into SCO delays. In late spring and early summer, fog also impacts
and other products involve particular risks and our ability to transfer personnel to the offshore facilities

uncertainties. Oil Sands operations are susceptible to loss by helicopter.
of production, slowdowns, shutdowns or restrictions on Suncor’s Refining and Marketing operations are subject to

our ability to produce higher value products, due to the all of the risks normally inherent in the operation of
interdependence of its component systems.
refineries, terminals, pipelines and other distribution

For Suncor’s upstream businesses, there are risks and facilities and service stations, including loss of product,
slowdowns due to equipment failures, unavailability of
uncertainties associated with drilling for oil and natural gas,
the operation and development of such properties and feedstock, price and quality of feedstock or other incidents.

wells (including encountering unexpected formations, Losses resulting from the occurrence of any of these risks
pressures, ore grade qualities, or the presence of HS), identified above could have a material adverse effect on
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premature declines of reservoirs, sour gas releases, Suncor’s business, financial condition, results of operations
uncontrollable flows of crude oil, natural gas or well fluids, and cash flow. Although the company maintains a risk

other accidents, and pollution and other environmental management program, which includes an insurance
risks.
component, such insurance may not provide adequate

Suncor’s Exploration and Production operations include coverage in all circumstances, nor are all such risks
insurable. It is possible that our insurance coverage will not
drilling offshore of Newfoundland and Labrador and in the
North Sea offshore of the U.K. and Norway, which are be sufficient to address the costs arising out of the
areas subject to hurricanes and other extreme weather allocation of liabilities and risk of loss arising from offshore

conditions. Drilling rigs in these regions may be exposed to operations.
damage or total loss by these storms, some of which may
Project Execution
not be covered by insurance. The consequence of
catastrophic events, such as blow-outs, occurring in There are certain risks associated with the execution of our
major projects and the commissioning and integration of
offshore operations can be more difficult and
time-consuming to remedy. The occurrence of these events new facilities within our existing asset base, the occurrence
of which could have a material adverse effect on Suncor’s
could result in the suspension of drilling operations,
damage to or destruction of the equipment involved and business, financial condition, results of operations and
cash flow.
injury or death of rig personnel. Successful remediation of
these events may be adversely affected by the water Project execution risk consists of three related primary risks:

depths, pressures and cold temperatures encountered in • Engineering – a failure in the specification, design or
the ocean, shortages of equipment and specialists required
technology selection;
to work in these conditions, or the absence of appropriate • Construction – a failure to build the project in the
technology to resolve the event. Damage to the
approved time and at the agreed cost; and
environment, particularly through oil spillage or extensive,
uncontrolled fires, or death, could result from these • Commissioning and startup – a failure of the facility to
meet agreed performance targets, including operating
offshore operations. Suncor’s offshore operations could also
be affected by the actions of Suncor’s contractors and costs, efficiency, yield and maintenance costs.

agents that could result in similar catastrophic events at Management believes the execution of major projects
their facilities, or could be indirectly affected by presents issues that require prudent risk management.

catastrophic events occurring at other third-party offshore Suncor may provide cost estimates for major projects at the
operations. In either case, this could give rise to liability, conceptual stage, prior to commencement or completion

damage to the company’s equipment, harm to individuals, of the final scope design and detailed engineering
force a shutdown of our facilities or operations, or result in necessary to reduce the margin of error of such cost

a shortage of appropriate equipment or specialists required estimates. Accordingly, actual costs can vary from
to perform our planned operations.

SUNCOR ENERGY INC. ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM 2014 67