(Recasts, adds quote, earnings details)
By Nia Williams
CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc
SU.TO , Canada's largest oil and gas company, reported a
fourth-quarter operating loss and cut 2016 capital spending
plans on Wednesday because of the collapse in global crude
prices.
The Calgary-based company's operating loss was C$26 million,
or 2 Canadian cents a share, versus operating earnings of C$386
million, or 27 Canadian cents a share, in the year-ago period.
It fell short of market expectations of operating earnings
of 10 cents a share, underlining how even the biggest oil sands
producers are struggling to cope with slumping prices.
Suncor also reported a C$2 billion ($1.46 billion) net loss,
or C$1.38 a common share, because of asset writedowns as a
result of the weak commodity price environment and unrealized
foreign exchange losses on U.S. dollar-denominated debt.
In the year-prior quarter, net earnings were C$84 million,
or 6 Canadian cents a share.
The company slashed its 2016 capital budget to C$6 billion
to C$6.5 billion, from guidance of C$6.7 billion to C$7.3
billion issued in November, in part by deferring planned
maintenance at its Firebag oil sands project in northern Alberta
until 2017.
Capacity at that facility rose to 203,000 barrels per day
from 180,000 bpd as a result of greater efficiencies.
The bulk of Suncor's operations are based in the oil sands,
where producers have aggressively slashed capital budgets and
cut tens of thousands of oil and gas jobs to help drive
production costs lower. The company also has operations offshore
Atlantic Canada, in the North Sea and in Libya.
Suncor's cash operating costs for the oil sands dropped to
C$28 a barrel in the fourth quarter from C$34.45 a barrel during
the same period a year earlier.
The company produced a total of 582,900 barrels of oil
equivalent per day, up from 557,600 in the fourth quarter of
2014, primarily because of reliability in oil sands operations.
Oil sands production increased 14 percent to 439,700 bpd.
Last month, Suncor reached an agreement to acquire rival
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd COS.TO in an all-stock offer valued at
C$6.6 billion, ending a hostile takeover battle raging since
October.
The proposed takeover will give Suncor the largest stake in
the joint venture Syncrude oil sands project, Canada's largest
single-source crude producer.
Canadian Oil Sands shareholders have until the end of the
week to tender their shares to Suncor's offer of 0.28 of a
Suncor share for every Canadian Oil Sands share.
($1 = 1.3737 Canadian dollars)
(Editing by Bernard Orr and Peter Cooney)