09/29/2026
Suncor is preparing for a major expansion of Firebag, its largest in-situ oil sands operation, with a proposal that could eventually push approved production capacity to 700,000 barrels per day.
Firebag currently has nameplate capacity of 215,000 barrels per day and produced a record 245,000 barrels per day in 2025. The operation sits about 120 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray and uses steam-assisted gravity drainage, or SAGD, rather than open-pit mining. :chatgpt-content-reference{index="0"}
The new plan would expand Firebag’s regulatory footprint and raise its approved production ceiling by 331,500 barrels per day.
Suncor’s 2026 investor presentation outlines four future development phases, each designed for about 60,000 barrels per day. First oil from those phases is currently targeted between 2032 and 2036. :chatgpt-content-reference{index="1"}
The company estimates around 3 billion barrels of developed resource across the expansion area, with a resource life exceeding 30 years.
A major advantage is that Firebag is already heavily built out.
Roads, pipelines, power infrastructure, lodges and an aerodrome are already in place, reducing the need to develop an entirely new site from scratch. :chatgpt-content-reference{index="2"}
Firebag began operating in 2003 and has since produced more than 1 billion barrels.
Now Suncor is looking at something much larger.
If fully developed, Firebag could move from being one of Alberta’s major SAGD operations to one of the largest in-situ oil sands projects ever built.
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