LONDON (MarketWatch) -- French oil company Total (FR:FP 40.08, +0.18, +0.44%) (TOT 52.95, +0.19, +0.36%) and Suncor Energy Inc. (CA:SU 36.48, -0.44, -1.19%) (SU 36.27, -0.38, -1.04%) said Friday that they have formed a strategic oil sands alliance, under which Total will pay C$1.75 billion ($1.74 billion) to Suncor. The companies said they will pool their combined interests in several projects in Alberta, Canada, through a series of separate agreements, resulting in the net payments from Total to Suncor. In a separate statement, Suncor said it plans to increase production to more than 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2020. The group said it wants to grow oil sands production by 10% a year and overall production by around 8% a year.
