Canadian synthetic crude production fell 15% from previous year Producers of light synthetic crude from Canada’s oil sands found a way to manage this year’s price slump by churning out less and getting more maintenance work done. The strategy is highlighted by a 15 percent decline in the production of the Syncrude benchmark in May from a year earlier, according to data reported by Statistics Canada on Monday. Oil-sands operators including Royal Dutch Shell Plc cut output while collectively undertaking the biggest set of repairs this spring in five years at their upgraders, plants that turn bitumen into light oil, according to Genscape Inc., an energy data company. The work followed the lowest average quarterly price for benchmark U.S. crude since 2009. “From a strategic point of view, I’m sure these major companies are betting that the peak of oversupply is this year, now,” said Carl Evans, a Genscape […]