Suncor to cut 1,500 jobs by end of year

Suncor Energy Inc. will cut 1,500 jobs by the end of the year, as new CEO Rich Kruger forges ahead with his mandate to reduce costs and improve the company’s lagging financial performance.

Employees were given the news Thursday afternoon, in a companywide email from Kruger, Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal said.

She confirmed the job reductions are new, and not part of the company’s previously announced plan to reduce the size of its contractor workforce by 20 per cent in an effort to improve safety and performance at its oilsands sites.

“As a company we needed to make changes that will strengthen our company for the future, and that includes our overall cost structure,” Seetal said by phone, adding the 1,500 job losses will be spread across the organization and will affect both employees and contractors.

The reductions amount to about nine per cent of the 16,558 employees that Calgary-based Suncor had at the end of 2022, according to the company’s annual information form. However, that tally does not include contractors.

Suncor has been under pressure from shareholders — including activist investor Elliott Investment Management — to improve its financial and share price performance, which has lagged its peers.

Kruger, the former CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd., took the reins at Suncor earlier this spring and has been tasked with turning around the oilsands giant.

Suncor employs people across the country, in the U.S., and internationally.

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