Investment Q&A

Netback is a summary of all costs associated with bringing one unit of oil to the marketplace compared with the revenues from the sale of all the products generated from that same unit. It is expressed as gross profit per barrel. The term is only used in reference to oil producers and their associated production activities. Netback is calculated by taking the revenues from the oil, less all costs associated with getting the oil to a market, including transportation, royalties, and production costs. Price - Royalties - Production - Transportation = Netback. The netback price can be used to compare one oil producer to another, and is useful for producers to examine cost-effectiveness over time. For example total oilsands operating netback for Cenovus in Q3 was $54.78, while Suncor was $50.83 which tells us that Cenovus was more profitable in their oilsands production on a per barrel basis.