Additional GAAP Financial Measures
In this MD&A and the related press release, we refer to additional GAAP financial measures that do not have any standardized meaning as prescribed by Canadian GAAP. Additional GAAP financial measures are line items, headings or subtotals in addition to those required under Canadian GAAP, and financial measures disclosed in the notes to the financial statements which are relevant to an understanding of the financial statements and are not presented elsewhere in the financial statements. These measures have been described and presented in order to provide shareholders and potential investors with additional measures for analyzing our ability to generate funds to finance our operations and information regarding our liquidity. Users are cautioned that additional GAAP financial measures presented by the Corporation may not be comparable with measures provided by other entities.
Additional GAAP financial measures include: cash flow from operations, cash flow from operations per Share, net debt, total net capitalization, total capitalization, net debt-to-total net capitalization and long-term debt-to-total capitalization.
Cash flow from operations is calculated as cash from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital. Cash flow from operations per Share is calculated as cash flow from operations divided by the weighted-average number of Shares outstanding in the period. We believe cash flow from operations and cash flow from operations per Share, which are not impacted by fluctuations in non-cash working capital balances, are more indicative of operational performance than cash from operating activities. With the exception of current tax payable and liabilities for Crown royalties, our non-cash working capital is liquid and typically settles within 30 days.
Cash flow from operations is reconciled to cash from operating activities as follows:
Three Months Ended March 31($ millions) 2013 2012----------------------------------------------------------------------------Cash flow from operations(1) $ 275 $ 454Change in non-cash working capital(1) 53 112----------------------------------------------------------------------------Cash from operating activities(1) $ 328 $ 566--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(1) As reported in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.
Net debt, total net capitalization, total capitalization, net debt-to-total net capitalization and long-term debt-to-total capitalization are used by the Corporation to manage capital, as discussed in the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section of this MD&A and in Note 12 to the unaudited consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2013.
Overview
Synthetic Crude Oil ("SCO") production from the Syncrude Joint Venture ("Syncrude") was lower than expected in the first quarter of 2013, reflecting unplanned outages in extraction and hydrotreating units. Syncrude production volumes totalled 23.4 million barrels, or 260,400 barrels per day, compared with 28.0 million barrels, or 311,100 barrels per day in our February 21, 2013 Outlook (included in the 2012 annual MD&A).
