TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada’s largest oil and gas company Suncor Energy on Tuesday reported record first-quarter operating profit after being able to ship more oil and its bottom line benefitting from a weakening Canadian dollar.

For the three months ended March 31, the Calgary, Alberta-based company reported net earnings of C$1.49-billion, or C$1.01 a share, up 37% from C$1.09-billion, or C$0.72 a share, it reported in the first quarter of 2013.

Excluding one-off special items, the adjusted earnings were up 31% to C$1.79-billion, or C$1.22 a share, from C$1.38-billion, or C$0.90 a share – beating the average analyst expectation of earning C$0.93 a share.

A more profitable portfolio comprised nearly 100% crude-oil weighted production, compared with 92% in the same quarter last year, supported Suncor’s strong quarterly results.

The company reported total upstream output of 545 300 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the first quarter of 2014, a decrease from 596 100 boe/d in the first quarter of 2013, reflecting the sale of the conventional natural gas business and the shut-in of production in Libya, which was partially offset by higher production in Alberta oil sands.

Output from its oil sands operations, constituting Canada’s most significant oil mines, rose 8.8% to average at 389 300 boe/d.

Suncor said that it had successfully positioned itself with a view to secure long-term market access.

The company reported that it had secured new pipeline capacity to the lucrative US Gulf Coast and increased its ability to transport inland-priced crude by rail to the Montreal refinery.

Further, the expected reversal of Enbridge's Line 9, combined with increased rail access was expected to further improve the Montreal refinery’s profits by increasing the company's flexibility to transport 100% inland crudes to the refinery.

On March 6, Enbridge's Line 9 pipeline received regulatory approval to reverse a portion of the pipeline that starts in northern Ontario and ends in Montreal. The expected reversal, combined with increased rail access to the East was expected to provide the company with the flexibility to supply its Montreal refinery with a full slate of inland priced crude in 2015.

This could put an end to the need to import more expensive crude oil for the refinery from abroad.

Refining and marketing had also increased rail shipments of inland-priced crudes to the Montreal refinery and rail shipments were expected to reach capacity at about 35 000 bbl/d in the second quarter of 2014.

The company also started transporting heavy crude on its capacity on TransCanada's Gulf Coast pipeline, which had provided more than 70 000 bbl/d of increased access to US Gulf Coast pricing for both light, and heavy crudes.

The company's integrated model and strong market access position resulted in Suncor capturing global-based pricing on almost 96% of its upstream production in the first quarter of 2014.

Suncor also said that it had raised its expectations for Alberta natural gas prices to $4.50/GJ, up from $3.86/GJ.

Suncor’s TSX-listed stock closed up 3.05% at C$42.60 apiece.