Cenovus raises 2026 production outlook as quarterly profit more than triples (updated)

Cenovus Energy Incorporation

29/07/2026 11:20

Updates after conference call, adds context and quote in paragraphs 5-8
MEG Energy acquisition expanded Cenovus' northern Alberta oil sands footprint
Q3 Christina Lake turnaround cut by nine days, trimming output loss by 700,000 barrels
McKenzie calls carbon capture pact meaningful progress for future oil sands growth
By Dharna  Bafna and Amanda Stephenson
CALGARY, July 29 (Reuters) - Cenovus Energy CVE.TO raised its 2026 production outlook on Wednesday after reporting a more than threefold jump in second-quarter profit helped by higher oil prices and record oil sands output, sending its U.S.-listed shares up almost 5% as of midday trading.
The Calgary-based company has gained from a global fuel market disrupted by the Iran war, which has tightened supply, raised oil prices and boosted earnings from both production and refining.
Cenovus — which reported its best-ever quarterly financial results for the three months ended June 30 — has also benefited from its C$8.6 billion ($6.10 billion) acquisition of MEG Energy late last year, which added low-cost, adjacent assets and expanded its oil sands footprint in northern Alberta. The company's total quarterly upstream production leaped 27% to 970,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
The company raised its full-year upstream production forecast by 25,000 boepd to between 970,000 boepd and 1.01 million boepd, citing stronger-than-expected performance across its oil sands assets. Both its Christina Lake and Sunrise facilities delivered record output in the second quarter.
Cenovus CEO Jon McKenzie said the company's new forecast is also in part due to gains it has made in reducing the costs associated with routine maintenance turnarounds at some of its sites.
At its Christina Lake oil sands location, a planned third-quarter maintenance turnaround is now expected to take nine days fewer than initially projected, which will reduce production loss from the project by more than 700,000 barrels, McKenzie said.
Canada's federal government, the province of Alberta and the Oil Sands Alliance — of which Cenovus is a member — this month announced they had reached a deal to advance a large-scale carbon capture and storage project, a government condition to move forward with a new West Coast oil pipeline.
McKenzie declined to give details Wednesday on what the agreement could mean for his company, but said it represents "meaningful progress" toward growing Canada's vast oil sands resource base.
Cenovus' downstream crude throughput totaled 451,500 barrels per day during the quarter, representing a unit utilization rate of 95%, while U.S. refining utilization reached 96%.
The Calgary, Alberta-based company's quarterly net income rose to C$2.87 billion or C$1.53 per share, from C$851 million, or 45 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.
     
($1 = 1.4102 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Dharna Bafna in Bengaluru and Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Jonathan Ananda and Will Dunham)
((amanda.stephenson@thomsonreuters.com))