Published: September 7, 2017 |

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Cenovus Energy has entered into an agreement with Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL) to sell its Pelican Lake heavy oil operations for $975m.

The sale also includes Cenovus’ other miscellaneous assets in northern Alberta.

The assets have a total production capacity of nearly 19,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed).

Cenovus plans to use the proceeds from the sale to fund the debt it incurred buy stakes worth $13.3bn in the Canadian oil and gas assets of ConocoPhillips.

In June, the company disclosed plans to raise C$4-5bn ($3-3.8bn) by the year end through sale of its non-core assets.

With the sale of Pelican Lake heavy oil operations, Cenovus plans to repay the first tranche of the bridge facility it availed to acquire ConocoPhillips’ assets.

“This represents a significant first step in our strategy to optimize our asset portfolio and deleverage our balance sheet as planned following the acquisition of the ConocoPhillips assets,” said Cenovus President and Chief Executive Officer.

“The divestiture processes for the remainder of our legacy conventional assets are proceeding as expected, with strong interest from potential buyers.”

Subject to normal closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to be completed on or before 30 September 2017.

For the Pelican Lake transaction, CIBC Capital Markets and Barclays Capital Canada served as financial advisors to Cenovus.

The company said that a process to sell its Suffield oil and natural gas assets is in advanced stages.

It is also looking to sell its Palliser assets in southern Alberta as well as its Weyburn carbon-dioxide enhanced oil recovery operation in Saskatchewan.

Source: Energy Business Review

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To stop by Cenovus’ website, CLICK HERE

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