Cenovus Energy Inc. (‘Cenovus’) operates as an integrated energy company, with crude oil and natural gas production operations in Canada and the Asia Pacific region, as well as upgrading, refining, and marketing operations in Canada and the United States (‘U.S.’).
The company’s operating segments are aggregated based on their geographic locations, the nature of the businesses, or a combination of these factors. The company operates through the following reportable segments:
Upstream segments...
Cenovus Energy Inc. (‘Cenovus’) operates as an integrated energy company, with crude oil and natural gas production operations in Canada and the Asia Pacific region, as well as upgrading, refining, and marketing operations in Canada and the United States (‘U.S.’).
The company’s operating segments are aggregated based on their geographic locations, the nature of the businesses, or a combination of these factors. The company operates through the following reportable segments:
Upstream segments
Oil Sands, includes the development and production of bitumen and heavy oil in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Cenovus’s oil sands assets include Foster Creek, Christina Lake, Sunrise, Lloydminster thermal, and Lloydminster conventional heavy oil assets. Cenovus jointly owns and operates pipeline gathering systems and terminals through the equity-accounted investment in Husky Midstream Limited Partnership (‘HMLP’). The sale and transportation of Cenovus’s production and third-party commodity trading volumes are managed and marketed through access to capacity on third-party pipelines and storage facilities in both Canada and the U.S. to optimize product mix, delivery points, transportation commitments, and customer diversification.
Foster Creek
Cenovus has a 100 percent working interest in Foster Creek, located on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range. Foster Creek produces from the McMurray formation, with a reservoir depth of up to 550 metres, using SAGD technology.
Bitumen production at Foster Creek averaged 196.0 thousand barrels per day in 2024 (2023 – 186.3 thousand barrels per day).
Cenovus operates a 100-megawatt natural gas-fired cogeneration facility at Foster Creek.
Christina Lake
Cenovus has a 100 percent working interest in Christina Lake, which is located approximately 150 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Christina Lake produces from the McMurray formation.
Bitumen production at Christina Lake averaged 234.2 thousand barrels per day in 2024.
Cenovus operates a 100-megawatt natural gas-fired cogeneration facility at Christina Lake. The steam and power generated by the facility is used within the SAGD operation.
Cenovus has a 100 percent working interest in Narrows Lake, which is located adjacent to Christina Lake and has a reservoir depth of up to 400 metres. The expansion of the Christina Lake development area to include Narrows Lake will provide future sustaining pad locations for feedstock into the Christina Lake plant. First oil from Narrows Lake is expected in 2025.
Sunrise
Cenovus has a 100 percent working interest in Sunrise, located approximately 60 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Sunrise produces from the McMurray formation, with a reservoir depth of up to 250 metres, using SAGD technology.
Bitumen production at Sunrise averaged 49.6 thousand barrels per day in 2024.
Lloydminster Thermal
Lloydminster thermal consists of 12 producing thermal plants, which are 100 percent owned by Cenovus and produce bitumen. The plants are located in the Lloydminster region of Saskatchewan. Each plant has a number of production pads and uses SAGD technology.
Bitumen production at Lloydminster thermal averaged 111.5 thousand barrels per day in 2024.
Lloydminster Conventional Heavy Oil
Lloydminster conventional heavy oil uses a combination of production techniques including CHOPS, horizontal and multilateral wells, and EOR in the Lloydminster region of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Heavy oil production averaged 17.6 thousand barrels per day in 2024 and conventional natural gas production averaged 8.9 MMcf per day in 2024.
Husky Midstream Limited Partnership
The company jointly owns and is the operator of HMLP, which owns midstream assets including pipeline, storage and other ancillary infrastructure assets in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The cCompany holds a 35 percent interest in HMLP, with Power Assets Holdings Limited holding a 49 percent interest and CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited holding a 16 percent interest. HMLP has its own board of directors and independent financing that supports both growth projects under construction and planned future expansions.
HMLP has approximately 2,300 kilometres of pipeline in the Lloydminster region and 5.9 million barrels of storage capacity at Hardisty and Lloydminster. The assets play an integral role in the transportation of heavy oil production to end markets by providing connections to the Lloydminster Upgrader and the Lloydminster Refinery, third-party terminals and pipelines through the Hardisty terminal.
The Lloydminster terminal, with a total storage capacity of 1.0 million barrels, serves as a hub for the gathering systems. The pipeline systems transport blended heavy crude oil to the Lloydminster terminal for delivery to the company’s Lloydminster Upgrader and Lloydminster Refinery. Blended heavy crude oil from the field and synthetic crude oil from the upgrading operations are transported south to Hardisty, Alberta to a connection with the major third-party owned export pipelines.
The Hardisty terminal acts as the exclusive blending hub for WCS with a total storage capacity of 4.9 million barrels. The Hardisty terminal is the largest heavy oil benchmark pricing point in North America.
In addition, HMLP owns and Cenovus operates the Ansell Corser gas processing plant located in west-central Alberta. The gas processing plant has a capacity of 120 MMcf per day and supports the Conventional segment.
Conventional, includes assets rich in natural gas liquids (‘NGLs’) and natural gas in Alberta and British Columbia in the Edson, Clearwater, and Rainbow Lake operating areas, in addition to the Northern Corridor, which includes Elmworth and Wapiti. The segment also includes interests in numerous natural gas processing facilities. Cenovus’s NGLs and natural gas production is marketed and transported, with additional third-party commodity trading volumes, through access to capacity on third-party pipelines, export terminals, and storage facilities. These provide flexibility for market access to optimize product mix, delivery points, transportation commitments, and customer diversification.
Cenovus’s Conventional assets include approximately 3.9 million net acres in Alberta and British Columbia with an average working interest of 85 percent. Operating areas include the Edson, Clearwater, Rainbow Lake and the Northern Corridor, which includes Elmworth and Wapiti, with reservoir depths ranging from 1,000 to 3,200 metres targeting formations within the Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic and Devonian geological periods focused primarily on the Cardium and Spirit River. Cenovus has processing capacity through various operated and non-operated natural gas facilities, in addition to a 50 percent working interest in a 90-megawatt natural-gas fired cogeneration facility along with multiple field facilities, compressor stations and pipelines. In 2024, Cenovus closed a transaction with Athabasca Oil Corporation to establish the jointly-controlled Duvernay Energy Corporation (Duvernay), in which it holds 30 percent equity interest. Cenovus’s equity share in the operating area of Duvernay includes an additional 27.7 thousand acres in Alberta.
In 2024, the company’s net production from the Conventional assets, excluding Duvernay, averaged 4.9 thousand barrels per day of light crude oil, 21.0 thousand barrels per day of NGLs and 563.8 MMcf per day of conventional natural gas.
In 2024, the company’s equity share of Duvernay production was 0.6 thousand barrels per day of light oil and condensate, 0.1 thousand barrels per day of NGLs and 1.3 MMcf per day of conventional natural gas.
Offshore, includes offshore operations, exploration, and development activities in the east coast of Canada and the Asia Pacific region, representing China and the equity-accounted investment in Husky-CNOOC Madura Ltd. (‘HCML’), which is engaged in the exploration for and production of NGLs and natural gas in offshore Indonesia.
Asia Pacific
China
Liwan Gas Project
The Liwan Gas Project is a deepwater gas project offshore China located approximately 300 kilometres southeast of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Liwan Gas Project includes the natural gas discoveries at the Liwan 3-1, Liuhua 34-2 and Liuhua 29-1 fields within the Contract Area 29/26 located in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the South China Sea. Cenovus has a 49 percent working interest in the Liwan 3-1 and Liuhua 34-2 fields, as well as a 75 percent working interest in the Liuhua 29-1 field. The remaining working interest is owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) through subsidiaries.
The Liwan 3-1, Liuhua 34-2 and Liuhua 29-1 fields share a subsea production system, subsea pipeline transportation and onshore gas processing infrastructure. Cenovus is the operator of the deepwater infrastructure and CNOOC operates the shallow water facilities including the central platform, the Gaolan Onshore Gas Plant (OSGP) and a pipeline from the central platform. The OSGP extracts NGLs, and compresses and transports the natural gas to commercial markets in mainland China.
In 2024, the vompany’s net production from the Liwan Gas Project was 199.5 MMcf per day of conventional natural gas and 9.3 thousand barrels per day of NGLs.
Block 29/34
The company holds a production sharing contract (PSC) for Block 29/34 situated in the South China Sea, adjacent to the Liuhua 34-2 Production Area. Cenovus is the operator of the block during the exploration phase, with a 100 percent working interest.
Block 15/33
The company holds a PSC for Block 15/33 which is located in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the South China Sea, about 140 kilometres southeast of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Cenovus is the operator of the block with a 100 percent working interest.
Block DW-1, Taiwan Area
The company and CPC Corporation (a state-owned oil and gas company), through a joint agreement, have rights to an exploration block covering approximately 7,700 square kilometres located southwest of the Taiwan Area offshore. The company holds a 75 percent working interest during exploration. CPC Corporation has the right to participate in any future development programs up to a 50 percent interest by paying its proportionate share of all development costs. The three-dimensional seismic exploration period expires on December 17, 2027.
Indonesia
Madura Strait
The company has a 40 percent equity interest in the HCML joint venture which holds the Madura Strait PSC. The Madura Strait PSC encompasses approximately 2,500 square kilometres in the Madura Strait area, located off the coast of East Java, Indonesia.
The Madura Strait PSC operates four producing shallow water fields, namely the BD, MDA, MBH and MAC fields. It also contains shallow water MDK and MBF fields which may be developed in the future depending on gas demand and project economics.
In 2024, the company’s working interest share of production was 85.8 MMcf per day of conventional natural gas and 1.7 thousand barrels per day of NGLs (2023 – 76.0 MMcf per day and 2.0 thousand barrels per day, respectively).
Liman
Located onshore in East Java, Indonesia, the company holds a 100 percent working interest in the Liman contract area during the exploration phase.
Atlantic Canada
Terra Nova Field
The Terra Nova field is located approximately 350 kilometres southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin. The Terra Nova field is divided into three distinct areas, known as the Graben, the East Flank and the Far East. Cenovus has a 34 percent working interest in the Terra Nova field and Suncor is the operator.
In 2024, the company’s working interest share of light crude oil production averaged 8.0 thousand barrels per day.
White Rose Field and Satellite Extensions
The White Rose field is located about 350 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador on the eastern flank of the Jeanne d’Arc Basin. The company is the operator of the main White Rose field and satellite tiebacks, including the North Amethyst, West White Rose and South White Rose extensions. Cenovus has a working interest of 60 percent in the main field and 56.375 percent in the satellite extensions. The North Amethyst and South White Rose extensions were developed via subsea tie-back infrastructure which produce back to the SeaRose FPSO.
The West White Rose project is designed to use a drilling and wellhead platform to access resources to the west of the main field and will also produce back to the SeaRose FPSO. The West White Rose project is anticipated to have peak production of 80.0 thousand barrels per day (45.0 thousand barrels per day, Cenovus’s working interest share) with first oil expected in 2026.
In 2024, the company completed refit work at the drydock on the SeaRose FPSO and the vessel was returned to the field and reconnected in November. Commissioning activities and restart operations are taking place in the field and production is expected to resume late February 2025.
East Coast Exploration
The company holds working interests ranging from six percent to 100 percent in multiple discovery areas and 30 percent to 72.5 percent in exploration licenses within the Jeanne d’Arc Basin.
Downstream segments
Canadian Refining, includes the owned and operated Lloydminster upgrading and asphalt refining complex, which converts heavy oil and bitumen into synthetic crude oil, diesel, asphalt, and other ancillary products. Cenovus also owns and operates the Bruderheim crude-by-rail terminal and two ethanol plants. The company’s commercial fuels business across Canada is included in this segment. Cenovus markets its production and third-party commodity trading volumes in an effort to use its integrated network of assets to maximize value.
Lloydminster Upgrader
The Lloydminster Upgrader, located in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, processes blended heavy crude oil feedstock (including bitumen). The feedstocks are received via the Saskatchewan Gathering System and the Cold Lake Gathering System, both of which are owned by HMLP, as well as via the Border Pipeline System owed by Cenovus. The Lloydminster Upgrader produces synthetic crude oil HSB, ultra-low sulphur diesel and other ancillary products. Production is transported via railcar and truck to primary markets in Western and Eastern Canada. Synthetic crude oil is sold into the Alberta market or used as refinery feedstock in the U.S. Refining segment. In addition, the Upgrader recovers condensate from the feedstock for reuse in the company’s Oil Sands segment and is transported back to field sites via the gathering systems.
Lloydminster Refinery
The Lloydminster Refinery, located in Lloydminster, Alberta, processes blended heavy crude oil into asphalt products used in road construction and maintenance, bulk distillates and industrial products. The feedstocks are received via the Saskatchewan Gathering System. The refined products are transported via railcar and truck to primary markets in Western Canada, the U.S. Upper-Midwest, Rocky Mountain Region and the West Coast. Condensate is recovered from the feedstock for reuse in the company’s Oil Sands segment and is transported to field sites via the gathering system. Distillates are transferred to the Lloydminster Upgrader and blended into the HSB stream or sold directly as industrial products. Industrial products are a blend of medium and light distillate and vacuum gas oil, which are typically sold directly to customers as refinery feedstock, drilling and well-fracturing fluids, or used in asphalt cutbacks and emulsions.
Due to the seasonal demand for asphalt products, many asphalt refineries typically operate at full capacity only during the paving season in Canada and the northern U.S. The company has implemented various strategies to increase refinery throughput outside of the paving season such as increasing storage capacity and developing U.S. markets for asphalt products. This allows the Lloydminster Refinery to run at, or near, full capacity throughout the year.
In addition to sales directly from the Lloydminster Refinery and export sales to the U.S., the company owns an asphalt distribution network composed of four asphalt terminals located in: Kamloops, British Columbia (storage capacity – 45.0 thousand barrels); Edmonton, Alberta (storage capacity – 35.0 thousand barrels); Yorkton, Saskatchewan (storage capacity – 60.0 thousand barrels); and Winnipeg, Manitoba (storage capacity – 115.0 thousand barrels). The company also owns an emulsion plant located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (storage capacity – 5.0 thousand barrels). The Lloydminster Refinery has a working tank capacity of 1.5 million barrels.
Bruderheim Crude-by-Rail Terminal
The company owns a crude-by-rail loading facility near Edmonton, Alberta. The Bruderheim crude-by-rail terminal has a storage tank capacity of 240.0 thousand barrels and a loading capacity of 120.0 thousand barrels per day. The company leases a fleet of coiled and insulated rail cars to safely transport its products to market.
Total volumes loaded at the Bruderheim Terminal averaged 12.5 thousand barrels per day in 2024, including crude oil volumes from the company’s Oil Sands segment.
Ethanol Plants
The company owns and operates two ethanol plants, located in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan and Minnedosa, Manitoba. Fuel grade ethanol is produced from grain-based feedstock. Each ethanol plant has an annual name plate capacity of 130 million litres.
The Lloydminster ethanol plant captures carbon dioxide for use in the company’s Lloydminster conventional heavy oil assets. Ethanol produced at the plant has a low carbon intensity designation. At the Minnedosa ethanol plant, the company continues to evaluate the viability of a carbon capture and sequestration project to achieve lower carbon intensity ethanol production.
Commercial Fuels Business
Cenovus’s commercial operating model is balanced by corporate owned/dealer operated and branded dealer-owned-and-operated sites. The network consists of travel centres and cardlocks serving urban and rural markets across Canada, and bulk distributors offering direct sales to commercial and agricultural markets.
U.S. Refining, includes the refining of crude oil to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, and other products at the wholly-owned Lima, Superior, and Toledo refineries. The U.S. Refining segment also includes the jointly-owned Wood River and Borger refineries, held through WRB Refining LP (‘WRB’), a jointly-owned entity with operator Phillips 66. Cenovus markets some of its own and third-party refined products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and asphalt.
Lima Refinery
The Lima Refinery is located in Lima, Ohio, approximately 150 kilometres northwest of Columbus, Ohio. The refinery processes heavy, light and synthetic crude oil, and has the capability to process HSB produced at the Lloydminster Upgrader and Cold Lake Blend (CLB) produced at Foster Creek. The crude oil feedstocks are received via the Mid-Valley and Marathon Pipelines. The Lima Refinery produces low-sulphur gasoline, gasoline blend stocks, ultra-low sulphur diesel, jet fuel, petrochemical feedstock and other by-products. The refined products are transported via the Buckeye, Inland and Energy Transfer Partners pipeline systems, and by railcar to markets in various U.S. states.
Toledo Refinery
On February 28, 2023, Cenovus acquired the remaining 50 percent interest in the Toledo Refinery from bp, giving Cenovus full ownership and operatorship of the refinery, and further integrating Cenovus’s heavy oil production and refining capabilities.
The Toledo Refinery is located near Toledo, Ohio, approximately 210 kilometres north of Columbus, Ohio. The refinery processes heavy, light and high total acid number (high TAN) crude oil, and has the capability to process Western Canada Dilbit Blend (WDB) produced at Sunrise, Christina Dilbit Blend (CDB) produced at Christina Lake and CLB produced at Foster Creek, in addition to other third-party high TAN crude oil, such as Access Western Blend (AWB). The refinery also processes HSB produced at the Lloydminster Upgrader. The crude oil feedstocks are received via the Mid-Valley, Marathon and Enbridge Mainline Pipelines. The refinery produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other products. The refined products are transported via the Buckeye, Inland and Energy Transfer Partners pipeline systems, and by barge and railcar to markets in various U.S. states.
Superior Refinery
The Superior Refinery is located in Superior, Wisconsin, approximately 250 kilometres northeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. On April 26, 2018, the Superior refinery experienced an incident while preparing for a major turnaround and was taken out of operation. The Superior Refinery ramped up operations throughout 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the alkylation unit was commissioned.
The refinery processes heavy, light and synthetic crude oil, including HSB produced at the Lloydminster Upgrader, and has the capability to process various crudes such as CDB, Lloyd Blend (LLB) and CLB. The crude oil feedstocks are received via Enbridge’s Canadian mainline systems from Alberta, Canada, and the U.S. pipeline system from the Bakken region in North Dakota, arriving at the Enbridge Superior Terminal adjacent to the Superior Refinery. The refinery produces various grades of asphalt, low-sulphur gasoline, low-sulphur diesel, gasoline blendstocks and other by-products. Refined products are transported via the Magellan Pipeline system south to the Minneapolis market and to local markets via trucks that are loaded at the Superior Terminal. Asphalt is loaded at the Superior rail and truck loading facilities, and transported to markets in various U.S. states.
Non-Operated Refineries
Wood River Refinery
Cenovus has a 50 percent interest in the Wood River Refinery located in Roxana, Illinois, approximately 25 kilometres northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. The Wood River Refinery processes light low-sulphur and heavy high-sulphur crude oil that it receives via the Keystone, Capline, Ozark and Capwood Pipelines to produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, petrochemical feedstock, as well as petroleum coke and asphalt. The refinery also has the capability to process CDB produced at Christina Lake. Gasoline, diesel and jet fuel are transported via the Explorer, Buckeye, and Marathon Pipelines to markets in the upper U.S. Midwest. Other products are transported via pipeline, truck, barge and railcar to various markets.
Borger Refinery
Cenovus has a 50 percent interest in the Borger Refinery located in Borger, Texas, approximately 80 kilometres northeast of Amarillo, Texas. The Borger Refinery processes mainly medium and heavy high-sulphur crude oil that it receives via the WA/80 and Borger Express Pipelines to produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, along with solvents and other products. The refined products are transported via the Denver, Powder River, Amarillo and Gold Line Pipelines, and by truck and railcar to markets in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and the U.S. mid-continent.
Storage and Distribution Network
The company has refined product storage and a U.S. asphalt distribution network composed of five terminals. These terminals include: the Superior Products Terminal in Superior, Wisconsin (where refinery products are unloaded); the Duluth Terminal in Duluth/Esko, Minnesota (storage capacity – 180.0 thousand barrels); the Duluth Marine Terminal in Duluth, Minnesota (storage capacity – 14.0 thousand barrels); the Rhinelander Asphalt Terminal in Rhinelander, Wisconsin (storage capacity – 157.0 thousand barrels); and the Crookston Asphalt Terminal in Crookston, Minnesota (storage capacity – 136.0 thousand barrels). In addition, the Superior Refinery has a working tank capacity of 2.5 million barrels. The company also markets asphalt from independently operated terminals located in the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Colorado.
Major Customers
In connection with the marketing and sale of Cenovus’s own and purchased crude oil, NGLs, natural gas, and refined products for the year ended December 31, 2024, Cenovus had two customers that individually accounted for more than 10 percent of its consolidated gross sales. Sales to these customers, recognized as major international energy companies with investment-grade credit ratings, are reported across all of the company’s operating segments.
History
Cenovus Energy Inc. was founded in 2009. The company was incorporated in 2021.
