Canada's Cenovus Energy will boost its energy production by 19% over the next five years, in line with pipeline capacity growth, Cenovus CEO Drew Zieglgansberger said at the company's annual investor day.
Cenovus has plants to lift production by 150,000 boepd to 950,000 boepd by 2028, the CEO said.
For now, Canada's heavy oil, produced by Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor, and Repsol, trades at a discount to the U.S. benchmark WTI due to the country's limited pipeline capacity to export it to foreign markets-namely, the United States.
But the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion-after numerous setbacks-is supposed to be finished in the second quarter, increasing the country's ability to carry the heavy oil away to the United States and to Asia. The expansion is expected to triple its export capacity to 890,000 bpd.
"This represents a new pathway into global markets," Zieglgansberger said.
Cenovus Energy stock fell 1.25% on Monday as the Canadian market took a beating, closing short of its 52-week high of C$5.48 that it hit on October 19.
Cenovus Energy held its 2024 Investor Day in Toronto on Tuesday, with the Leadership Team providing updates to the company's strategy, outlook, and operations. Last month, the company reported that it had just missed analyst estimates for its quarterly profit but exceeded production estimates and refinery throughput volumes. Cenovus Q4 2023 upstream production rose to 808,600 boepd from 806,900 in Q4 2022. Downstream throughput increased to 579,100 bpdmm up from 473,500 bpd a year earlier. Cenovus's U.S. refineries have shown poorly over the last few years.
Cenovus Energy produces oil and natural gas in Canada and the Asia Pacific region, along with refining and marketing operations in Canada as well as the United States.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More