One thing that Suncor is not selling is its 12% stake in giant oil sands producer Syncrude.

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Syncrude, the largest oil sands producer, is a consortium of eight companies.

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The announcement is especially significant in the context of the latest case of ducks landing on these toxic ponds, just after Syncrude had paid a hefty fine in connection with an earlier incident.

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It is also unclear whether Suncor and Syncrude, two companies which together account for almost half of the output from the oil sands, can be persuaded to abandon voluntarily Crown contracts that entrench their low royalty rate until 2016.

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Even more surprising was the decision in February of the federal and Alberta governments to charge Syncrude, a large tar-sands processor, with offences under environmental and bird-protection laws for the deaths of 500 ducks in one of the company's tailing ponds last April.

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Gas was also an easy out for Mulva, allowing him to dodge what the gathered crowd of oil executives would have been more interested in hearing: a well articulated plan for ConocoPhillips to return to strength through selling off noncore assets (including Syncrude, some sadsack refineries and even a stake in Russia's Lukoil).

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