Suncor President and CEO Mark Little prepares to speak at the company’s annual meeting in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, May 2, 2019. Suncor Energy says Little has resigned as president and CEO and resigned from the board, effective immediately . Photo by Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Suncor Energy Inc. CEO Mark Little has resigned after yet another fatality at one of the company’s construction sites, sending shockwaves through Canada’s oil and gas sector.
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Calgary-based Suncor said after the close of financial markets on July 8 that Little’s departure was effective immediately and that he would be replaced in the interim by Kris Smith, executive vice president of Suncor’s downstream operations, including Petro- Canada. The news came a day after a contractor died at Suncor’s oilsands base plant north of Fort McMurray — the second casualty at the site this year and the latest in a string of workplace injuries and deaths at Canada’s largest integrated oil company. Little had the role for just three years. Suncor’s safety problems and recent industry performance drew public criticism from US activist investor Elliott Investment Management LP in April. Elliott criticized the company’s safety record and called on Suncor to add new directors and conduct a management and asset review.
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The company was in the middle of preparing for a presentation next week about the company’s plan to improve safety and performance in oil operations when the latest fatality occurred. The presentation was hastily canceled and speculation began to circulate that Little would quit. “Clearly they were going to come in next week expecting to highlight the security issues and operational issues being addressed and talk about how (they’re) dealing with them and what’s changed — now that this event has happened, there’s no way they’re going to defend anything that I was going to say said Phil Skolnick, an analyst at VIII Capital Corp. “It’s not like you’re cutting a dividend. It’s not like you have a lot of functional issues where you constantly lack guidance. This is very different. It’s all about people, which brings it to a different level.”
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Thirteen employees or contractors have died in accidents at Suncor facilities since 2014. “Suncor is committed to achieving safety and operational excellence across our business, and we must recognize where we have fallen short and recognize the critical need for change,” board chairman Michael Wilson said in a statement. “We commend Mark for his professionalism and the outstanding job he has done to guide Suncor through the pandemic and drive our industry’s progressive approach to the energy transition. We thank him for his years of service to the company and wish him every success.” The abrupt resignation of Suncor’s chief mars what had begun to look like a turnaround. In June, RBC Capital Markets analyst Greg Pardee upgraded Suncor stock to “outperform” from “sector perform” and raised his price targets, indicating that meetings with management had encouraged them that the company was under tighter control the steps required to recover it. position as the best operator in the class. [email protected] Twitter: @mpotkins
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