Cenovus Cuts 2019 Capital Budget
Canada's Cenovus Energy Inc said on Tuesday it would reduce its capital spending for 2019 by 4 percent amidst a broader turnaround plan following its highly criticized deal with ConocoPhillips.The company said it plans to invest between C$1.2 billion ($901.1 million) and C$1.4 billion in 2019, with the majority of the budget going to its Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands operations.($1 = C$1.33)(Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru)
MEG Energy Expects to Produce More Oil in 2018
Canadian oil sands producer MEG Energy Corp said on Friday it expects higher production in 2018, compared to its 2017 forecast. The company expects to produce 85,000 to 88,000 barrels per day (bpd) next year, compared to its 2017 forecast of 80,000 to 82,000 bpd. MEG Energy expects capital expenses of C$510 million ($396.02 million) next year, the majority of which will be used to drill new oil wells. The company said it plans to spend C$120 million next year on thermal technology at its Christina Lake oil sands project in northern Alberta, which involves adding gas to steam injected underground to liquefy and extract tarry oil sands bitumen.
Conoco Deal Lifts Cenovus to Profit
Shares of oil producer Cenovus Energy Inc surged more than 6 percent on Thursday after the company reported a second-quarter profit, compared with a year-ago loss, helped by its purchase of ConocoPhillips' Canadian oil sands assets. Cenovus, which paid $13.3 billion in March to buy the assets, said the purchase boosted total production by 65 percent to 436,929 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the quarter. The deal closed on May 17. ConocoPhillips sold its 50 percent interest in the Foster Creek Christina Lake oil sands partnership, as well as the majority of its western Canada Deep Basin conventional gas assets.
Suncor to Grow Oil Sands as Oil Majors Flee
Even as the world's largest energy companies exit Canada's high-cost oil sands the country's top producer Suncor Energy is lining up its next phase of growth in the world's third largest crude reserves. The preliminary plans for new projects in remote northern Alberta follow a stream of multi-billion dollar deals in which international oil majors sold off oil sands assets to Canadian producers, who are betting technology and economies of scale will make the region competitive with other plays globally. Suncor said on Monday it will file a regulatory application for its 160…
ConocoPhillips Sheds Canadian Oil & Gas Assets
ConocoPhillips on Wednesday agreed to sell oil sands and western Canadian natural gas assets to Cenovus Energy Inc for C$17.7 billion ($13.3 billion), making it the latest international oil major to pull back from a region where high costs and low crude prices have made it hard for large companies to make an acceptable return. For Calgary-based Cenovus, among Canada's largest producers, the deal doubles its production to 588,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day as it takes full ownership of its main oil sands assets in northern Alberta.
ConocoPhillips: Oil Sands Reserves Revised Down
ConocoPhillips has revised down over a billion barrels of oil sands reserves because of low global crude prices, a company filing showed on Tuesday, the latest sign that some of Canada's vast hydrocarbon potential may be left untapped. The U.S. oil major said developed and undeveloped reserves of bitumen - the heavy viscous oil found in northern Alberta's remote oil sands - totalled 1.2 billion barrels at the end of 2016, down from 2.4 billion barrels at the end of 2015. The oil sands have some of the highest full-cycle breakeven costs in the world, with new thermal projects needing U.S. crude prices around $60 a barrel.
Cenovus Mulls Restart of Two Oil Sands Projects
Canadian oil and gas producer Cenovus Energy Inc said on Thursday it is doing engineering and design work at two of its deferred oil sands projects in northern Alberta and it could potentially reactivate them in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The two projects, Foster Lake phase H and Narrows Lake phase A, would add up to 75,000 barrels per day of production. That would be in addition to Cenovus' 50,000 bpd Christina Lake phase G project, which the company said in December it was restarting. Chief Executive Brian Ferguson…
Cenovus Raising Budget, Resuming Christina Lake Expansion
Canadian oil producer Cenovus Energy Inc said on Thursday it planned to increase its 2017 capital budget by about 24 percent and will resume work on the expansion of its oil sands project in Christina Lake. The Calgary, Alberta-based company said it intended to invest between C$1.2 billion-C$1.4 billion ($1.06 billion), with a target of C$1.3 billion. That compared with its forecast of C$1 billion-C$1.1 billion for 2016. Cenovus's 2017 oil production will rise 14 percent to 223,000-240,000 barrels per day (bpd), while oil sands production is estimated to increase by 20 percent to 172…
Canadian Oil Sands Producers Mull New Investments
Two Canadian energy companies on Thursday outlined preliminary plans to add new oil sands production at their northern Alberta operations, a sign that the industry may have come to grips with the slump in crude prices after two years of heavy cost-cutting. Cenovus Energy said, as it released second-quarter earnings, that it was doing engineering and rebidding work on phase G of its Christina Lake thermal project, which was put on hold in 2015. It said it would decide whether to proceed with the 50,000 barrel per day expansion by December.
Bottlenecks Expected as More Canadian Oil Meets Tight Pipe Space
Deeply-discounted prices for heavy crude from the heart of Alberta's oil sands look set to sink further, thanks to hundreds of thousands of barrels of new supply that will have difficulty finding space in crowded pipelines, traders say. It would be another hit for Canada's ailing oil sands producers, who have slashed millions in capital expenditures and been forced to lay off thousands of workers over the two-year downturn in oil prices. Until recently, pipeline space in Alberta has not been an issue as May wildfires took about half of the oil sands' production capacity offline.
Bottlenecks Expected as More Canadian Oil Meets Tight Pipe Space
Deeply discounted prices for heavy crude from the heart of Alberta's oil sands look set to sink further, thanks to hundreds of thousands of barrels of new supply that will have difficulty finding space in crowded pipelines, traders say. It would be another hit for Canada's ailing oil sands producers, who have slashed millions in capital expenditures and been forced to lay off thousands of workers over the two-year downturn in oil prices. Until recently, pipeline space in Alberta has not been an issue as May wildfires took about half of the oil sands' production capacity offline.
Low Crude Prices Leave Many Canada Oil Sands Producers in the Red
U.S. crude's slide to $35 a barrel this week has left many Canadian oil sands producers selling their oil at a loss, with some analysts predicting even more pain in 2016. Alberta's oil sands hold the world's third-largest crude reserves but also have some of the highest breakeven costs globally because of energy-intensive production methods. Canadian heavy crude trades at a discount to U.S. crude because of quality and the cost of transportation from landlocked Alberta to U.S. markets. The differential is currently steady near $13.75 a barrel, putting the outright price of Canadian heavy at around $22 a barrel, near a decade low.
Wildfire Intensifies Near Alberta Oil-sands Sites
An out-of-control wildfire, burning near two major oil sands projects in the key crude-producing region of northern Alberta, grew in size on Friday, although firefighters were hopeful cold weather moving into the region would help tackle the blaze. Around 233,000 barrels per day of production, roughly 10 percent of Alberta's total output crude output, was shut in as a result of wildfires across the province, which is the largest source of United States crude imports. The biggest fire was roughly 15 kilometres from Cenovus Energy Inc's 135 bpd Foster Creek project…
MEG Latest to Shut Oil Sands Project on Alberta Fire Threat
MEG Energy Inc said on Tuesday it was suspending operations at its 80,000 barrel per day Christina Lake oil sands project and evacuated non-essential staff as wildfires rage through northeastern Alberta. MEG said in a statement that there was as yet no safety risk from the forest fires, but it has halted work on a planned maintenance shutdown at its project site, the latest of several oil producers in the region to move staff away from the potential danger. "As a precautionary measure, we have temporarily suspended operations, including our planned maintenance turnaround," the company said in a statement.
Cenovus Energy to spend 15 pct Less in 2015
Cenovus Energy Inc , Canada's No. 2 independent oil producer, said it plans to reduce capital spending by about 15 percent in 2015 as oil prices plunge. Cenovus said it would spend between C$2.5 billion ($2.18 billion) and C$2.7 billion next year, lower than the C$3.0 billion to C$3.1 billion it estimated it spent in 2014. "We expect to be able to live within our means while continuing to invest in future production growth," Chief Executive Brian Ferguson said in a statement. However, while Cenovus's cash flow is expected to fall 29 percent to $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion in 2015…
Cenovus to Develop Telephone Lake Oil Sands
Cenovus Energy Inc , Canada's No.2 independent oil producer, said on Friday it has received regulatory approval for its Telephone Lake oil sands project, a facility that could eventually produce more than 300,000 barrels of oil per day. The company said the Alberta Energy Regulator and the provincial government approved the thermal oil sands project, which will pump steam into oil sands deposits to liquefy the tar-like bitumen so it can flow to the surface. Cenovus said Telephone Lake will be developed in stages, with a 90,000 bpd initial phase, followed by expansions.
Cenovus Plans Turnaround for Foster Creek Oil Sands Project
Cenovus Energy announced production at its 114,000 barrel-per-day Foster Creek oil sands project in northern Alberta will have an approximate 30 percent impact during a two-week-long partial turnaround in the third quarter. Cenovus spokeswoman, Jessica Wilkinson, said Cenovus would carry out planned maintenance on steam generators at its 136,000 bpd Christina Lake project in the third and fourth quarter of 2014, but impact on production was expected to be minor. Cenovus operates the two oil sands projects as 50/50 joint ventures with Conoco Phillips. Reporting by Nia Williams
New Diluent Line to Oil Sands in Service
Inter Pipeline Ltd , which operates regional pipeline systems in Western Canada, said on Friday it had completed a C$1.1 billion ($1.03 billion) conduit serving two northern Alberta oil sands projects operated by Cenovus Energy Inc. Inter Pipe said the new line will deliver as much as 350,000 barrels per day of diluent, an ultra light form of crude oil blended into the tar-like bitumen from the oil sands so it can flow on pipelines, to the Foster Creek and Christina Lake projects co-owned by Cenovus and ConocoPhillips.
