Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) , Canada’s largest oil producer by market value, said first-quarter profit rose helped by higher crude prices and shipments of North American crude to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. was C$1.49 billion ($1.35 billion), or $1.01 a share, compared with C$1.1 billion, or 72 cents, a year earlier, the Calgary-based company said today in a statement. Chief Executive Officer Steve Williams has focused on boosting earnings by canceling less profitable projects including the Voyageur upgrader and stepping back from a production target of 1 million barrels a day by 2020. The company has protected itself from more volatile Canadian crude prices during the past year with its refineries, which benefit from lower commodity prices. “Our integrated model combined with improved market access allowed us to maximize the value of every barrel we produced,” Williams said in the release. Average production was the equivalent of 545,300 […]