1990 - 2010

Board of Directors elects Richard (Rick) L. George to the Board and appoints him as President and Chief Operating Officer of Suncor.

• Rick George becomes President and Chief Executive Officer.
• Introduction of Sunoco Ultra Clean 94, a new super premium gasoline, replacing Sunoco GOLD™

• Suncor becomes a publicly traded company with an initial share price equivalent to $2.38 (accounting for subsequent share splits).
• Phasing out of bucketwheels begins. Cost effective and efficient trucks and shovels are the new technology.

• The Government of Ontario divests its interest in Suncor; Sun Company Inc. reduces its holdings to 55%.
• Replacement of bucketwheels with trucks and shovels and streamlining of operations is completed. Production increases to 60,000 barrels per day at a cost of $14 per barrel.
• Crane Lake Nature Trail opens on reclaimed land at a former Suncor oil sands site in Fort McMurray.

Suncor acquires a new lease across the Athabasca River from the company’s existing operations and later develops it into the Steepbank Mine.

• Sun Company Inc. of Philadelphia sells its remaining 55% interest in Suncor.
• Suncor moves its head office from Toronto to Calgary. With 60% of Suncor’s asset base in Alberta, the move brings the head office closer to major operations.
  Suncor releases its first sustainability report.

• Employees at oil sands celebrate a milestone – 500 million barrels of oil produced since operations began in 1967.
• Suncor’s sulphur dioxide emission reduction plant eliminates 95% of the sulphur dioxide from the powerhouse stack emissions.

• The word “energy” is added to the Suncor name to better reflect the company’s ability to provide a broad range of energy products.
  Suncor starts trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SU.
• Suncor celebrates the 30th anniversary of its oil sands operation.
• Oil sands business breaks a production record, producing more than 100,000 barrels of crude oil in a 24-hour period.
• Sunoco introduces a new high-performance premium Gold Diesel Fuel to industrial and commercial customers at its new diesel truck stop business.
• Sunoco receives a Pollution Prevention Award from the Ontario government for eliminating leaks from underground storage tanks.
• The Suncor Bridge opens at oil sands facility with a plant-wide Family day planned to celebrate.

• Suncor files an application with the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board to develop Project Millennium, an expansion to Suncor’s oil sands operation.
• Start-up of Plant 25, a $200-million addition to its oil sands upgrading facility.
• Sunoco opens its first FleetFuels Cardlock in Ontario. The fuelling centres are activated with security PIN numbers for automated fuelling 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• Steepbank Mine opens in Fort McMurray – a major step in the company’s plan to increase oil production and lower operating costs.
• Suncor launches the Suncor Energy Foundation, to manage donations to Canadian charitable initiatives.

• Construction begins on Project Millennium, an expansion project to increase oil sands production capacity to 225,000 barrels per day by 2002.
• TransAlta builds, owns and operates a cogeneration facility at Suncor’s oil sands facility. The agreement provides steam and electricity for increased production rates.
• Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year is Rick George.

• Suncor unveils plans to invest $100 million by 2005 in alternative and renewable energy.
• Firebag, the company’s first in situ oil sands project, is announced.

• Commissioning of Project Millennium, a four-year, $3.4 billion expansion of oil sands mining, extraction and upgrading facilities. Capacity doubles to 225,000 barrels of oil per day.
• Suncor partners with Enbridge Inc. to open Saskatchewan’s first major supply of renewable energy – SunBridge Wind Power Project (17 wind turbines generating 11 megawatts of electricity).
• Voyageur growth strategy is announced with a goal to increase oil production to half a million barrels per day by 2012.

• Suncor increases total production by 53% to 239,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day – up from 156,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2001.
• MacKay River begins recovering bitumen using the in-situ process.
• A new record is set for cash flow, exceeding the billion-dollar mark and generating record financial results for shareholders.
• Oil sands facility sets a new record for average production record: 205,800 barrels per day.
• Suncor launches safety programs Journey to Zero and the President’s Operational Excellence Awards.
• Sunoco Inc. changes company name to Suncor Energy Products Inc.

Suncor acquires ConocoPhillips’ Commerce City, Colorado, refinery, Phillips-branded retail stations and associated storage, pipeline and distribution facilities; 585 employees join the Suncor team.

Suncor is first to comply with the sustainability reporting guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative with its 2003 Report on Sustainability.

• Suncor celebrates the official opening of the Firebag in situ oil sands facility. The facility has significant environmental benefits – disturbing less land than open pit mining and using recycled water.
• Suncor initiates approximately $1 billion worth of projects to expand presence in the downstream industry.
• After 30 years, Suncor plants its three-millionth tree within the 900+ hectares of reclaimed land at the Steepbank Mine site.
• Suncor celebrates the opening of second wind power project in Magrath, Alberta, producing 30 megawatts of electricity from 20 wind turbines.

• Devastating January fire encases the upgrader in ice and cuts production by half for eight months. 
• Commissioning of the oil sands upgrading expansion increases production capacity to 260,000 barrels per day of upgraded crude oil.
• Suncor buys Valero Energy refinery, next to Commerce City, Colorado plant. Capacity increases to 90,000 barrels per day and 140 employees join Suncor.
• Construction begins on a $120 million ethanol facility near Sarnia, Ontario to produce 200 million litres of ethanol per year then blended into Sunoco gasoline.
• Suncor invests $3 million (largest in the company’s history) with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton to address the shortage of skilled tradespeople in Alberta.
• Suncor announces its third Alberta wind power plant near Taber, Alberta (30 megawatts) and first Ontario project near Ripley (76 megawatts).

• On January 4, Suncor reaches a significant milestone at its oil sands facility – the sale of its billionth barrel of oil sands crude since operations began in 1967.
• The first Suncor Energy-branded commercial “FleetFuels Cardlock” opens in Fort McMurray to meet the growing demand for high-quality, low sulphur diesel fuel and gasoline in the Wood Buffalo region.
• Suncor receives regulatory approval to construct and operate a third oil sands upgrader. Part of the Voyageur growth strategy, the upgrader is a key component of increasing oil production to more than half a million barrels per day by 2012.

• Suncor and partner Acciona Wind Energy begin construction of a 76-megawatt wind power project near Ripley, Ontario.
• Suncor initiates the regulatory approval and stakeholder consultation process on plans to develop an expanded oil sands mining operation.
• Suncor ties for first place in the oil and gas category of the Globe & Mail Report on Business Magazine’s fourth annual Canadian corporate social responsibility ranking.
• Suncor is named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Magazine, a publication dedicated to illuminating the correlation between ethics and profit.
• Suncor is named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the ninth consecutive year.
• Employees celebrate the 40th anniversary of the oil sands operation.

• Shareholders approve a stock split of the company’s common shares on a two-for-one basis.
• Suncor and the Fort McKay First Nation establish a business incubator to promote economic development and entrepreneurship in the community of Fort McKay.
• Suncor announces a $6 billion capital spending plan. Approximately $3.6 billion in spending is targeted to Suncor’s Voyageur oil sands growth strategy.
• The Suncor Energy Foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary. Since its inception, the Foundation has contributed more than $57 million to registered Canadian charitable organizations.

• On March 23, Suncor and Petro‑Canada announce their intention to merge.
• Spending with Indigenous companies in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo surpasses $1 billion mark.
• Competition Bureau approves the proposed merger of Suncor and Petro‑Canada.
• The merger of Suncor and Petro‑Canada becomes effective August 1, creating Canada’s largest energy company and the fifth largest North American-based energy company.
• Announced a series of strategic environmental performance goals in water, land, energy efficiency and air.