Cenovus Energy reported a rise in third-quarter profit on Friday, driven by record oil sands production and near-full refinery utilisation that helped offset weaker crude prices.
The Calgary, Canada-based oil and gas producer pursues a major expansion through its planned acquisition of MEG Energy for about $6 billion. A MEG shareholder vote on the deal was postponed this week to allow for additional regulatory disclosures.
The regulatory inquiry is related to a complaint raised by a former employee of MEG who holds approximately 4,000 shares, Cenovus CEO Jon McKenzie said on a conference call. He said Cenovus did not expect the inquiry to affect the transaction, with the shareholder vote expected to proceed as planned next week.
"There continues to be very strong support for the transaction from MEG shareholders, with 86 per cent of the shares voted in favour of the transaction," McKenzie said.
Cenovus produced a record 832,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the quarter, up from 771,300 boepd a year earlier, led by higher volumes at its Foster Creek and Christina Lake projects.
Refining throughput also hit a record 710,700 barrels per day (bpd), up from last year’s 642,900 bpd, with US plants running at 99 per cent utilisation and per-barrel costs down 24 per cent from a year earlier.
McKenzie said 2025 has been an "inflection point" for Cenovus, with drilling at the company’s West White Rose offshore project due to start by the end of the year and the near-completion of oil sands growth projects at Foster Creek and Narrows Lake in northern Alberta.
With these major expansion projects wrapping up, capital spending will decline in 2026 to around CA$4 billion ($3 billion), excluding the MEG assets, he said. The projects will also boost production, with output expected to rise to about 950,000 bpd by 2028, compared with the 805,000-825,000 bpd range forecast for 2025.
Cenovus said net income rose to CA$1.29 billion ($920 million), or CA$0.72 per share, in the three months ended September 30, from CA$820 million, or CA$0.42 per share, a year earlier.
US-listed shares of Cenovus were up 0.8 per cent in midday trading.
(Reporting by Katha Kalia in Bengaluru and Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Tomasz Janowski)
