The world’s largest oil sands producer got a little bit smaller in terms of its headcount after it slashed 1,500 jobs on top of a 20% reduction announced earlier this year..Employees were notified late Thursday in an email from new CEO Rich Kruger. It’s part of a plan to trim about $400 million in costs by the end of the year.. Suncor CEO Rich KrugerSuncor CEO Rich Kruger fired 1,500 employees Thursday in an e-mail. .“Staffing reductions will occur at all levels of the organization and will be based on both performance and business need. As we do this, we will eliminate work, critically looking at what we do, why we do it, how we do it and the value it adds,” Kruger told staff in an email on June 1..“I assure you that decisions like these, that affect people and their lives, are not easy to make or taken lightly. However, at this time, they are necessary to ensure the ongoing competitiveness of our company.”.According to its annual report, it had about 16,558 employees to the end of last year, down from almost 17,000 the prior year, making it one of Alberta’s largest employers. About 60% of its workforce is directly tied to its oil sands business..The timing of the announcement raised eyebrows, coming days after the provincial election and less than a month after it reported a first quarter profit of $2.05 billion along with dividends and share buybacks amounting to $1.6 billion. .In 2022 those amounted to $8 billion or 43% of all the cash it generated in the year, more than double the $3.9 billion it paid out the year before. In 2023 it aims to pump 60% of its free cash out the door, dollars that won’t go back into increasing production or hiring new staff..One of the biggest beneficiaries of that largesse is West Palm Beach-based Elliot Investment Management, one of the largest activist investment funds in the world with more than $8 billion under management. Apparently it wants even more..Elliot owns about 3% of Suncor’s shares. In recent years it has been pressuring the company to bring in new directors and undergo a management and strategic review — buzzwords for dumping assets, including its Petro-Canada gas stations, and now people..In March, Suncor amended an agreement with the firm to allow it the right to appoint an additional director to its board, which resulted in the appointment of Daniel Romasko, a US resident who previously held positions with American refiners Motiva and Tesoro..Suncor produced about 675,000 barrels of oil sands per day or about 20% of Alberta’s total output. Suncor’s shares (TSX-SU) were up about 2% in Toronto this morning, to $38.78 but are down about 15% year-over-year..Michelle Rempel, MP for Calgary Nose Hill blamed the Trudeau government for policies that discriminate against the energy sector..“The silence about this latest news from Justin Trudeau and his Ministers, and their lack of action to protect Alberta jobs, is unconscionable,” she said in a statement..“Instead, Justin Trudeau seems to be content to put Alberta energy workers out of work, while cutting the world off from a stable supply of sustainably and humanely produced energ… he should instead present solutions that will address the issue of climate change without forcing Albertans into unemployment and an affordability and energy security crisis.”
