RE:RE:RE:Suncor's real motiveI believe Suncor is not so much interested in Syncrude itself. They will be happy if it just breaks even and makes some return when oil prices go up. So indeed, they have no issue having IMO as the operator.
I think the motive is lease 29 adjacent to Suncor's Steepbank mine. There has already been discussions to acquire it from Syncrude. See page 5 here,
https://s1.q4cdn.com/643672711/files/doc_downloads/2015/conference-call-script_FINAL-to-Website.pdf
Suncor says acquiring lease 29 is up to Syncrude partners on page 24 here,
https://www.suncor.com/pdf/2015-11-12_SU-COS_FINAL_ENG.pdf
"Lease 29 is an asset that belongs to Syncrude. It’s important to note that any decision to sell a Syncrude lease requires support from other Syncrude owners who would have to align on appropriate value, regardless of Suncor’s ownership stake."
So if SU gets 50.1% of Syncrude, it would not be hard for them to arrange an asset transfer-sale-swap, etc.... of lease 29.