By Jaryn Vecchio Suncor Energy and Canadian Natural Resources Limited are seeing strong starts to 2021. Both oil companies released their first-quarter updates this week, highlighting net earnings of $821 million and $1.4 billion respectively. The two combined for a net loss of $4.7 billion in the first three months of 2020. “In the first quarter of 2021, we demonstrated our continued commitment to operational excellence through combined upgrader utilization of 97 per cent, record In Situ production, and improved cost performance in the upstream,” said Mark Little, Suncor President, and CEO. Despite the strong start, Suncor and CNRL continue to be impacted heavily by COVID-19. There are nine outbreaks at sites run by the two companies. This includes Syncrude‘s Mildred Lake and Aurora sites.