CALGARY, May 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Cenovus Energy
Inc. (TSX: CVE) (NYSE: CVE) has safely evacuated all staff from its
Foster Creek oil sands and Athabasca natural gas operations and shut down
production as a precaution due to a forest fire on the Cold Lake
Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) in northeastern Alberta.
The forest fire is currently burning about 25 kilometres south
of Cenovus's Foster Creek facility. There has been no damage to the
Foster Creek infrastructure at this time. The decision to send
staff home and shut down production on May
23 was primarily made because of the fire's proximity to the
only access road to the facilities.
"The safety of staff is our first priority and this was a
massive coordinated effort that got 1,800 people off our site
safely and quickly," said John
Brannan, Cenovus Executive Vice-President & Chief
Operating Officer. "It took significant teamwork and help from a
number of outside organizations and I would like to thank everyone
involved."
Foster Creek, which is jointly owned with ConocoPhillips, has
current average daily production of approximately 67,500 barrels
per day (bbls/d) net to Cenovus (135,000 bbls/d gross). Total oil
production across all of Cenovus's assets averaged about 218,000
bbls/d net in the first quarter of 2015. The Athabasca natural gas operation currently
produces about 20 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas, most
of which is used as fuel for Foster Creek.
The facilities were shut down in a safe and orderly manner. The
restart of the facility will be entirely dependent on the status of
the forest fire. Once the fire is under control and it is deemed
safe to return to site, operations will resume as soon as
possible.
Cenovus Energy Inc.
Cenovus Energy Inc. is a Canadian integrated oil company. It is
committed to applying fresh, progressive thinking to safely and
responsibly unlock energy resources the world needs. Operations
include oil sands projects in northern Alberta which use specialized methods to drill
and pump the oil to the surface and established natural gas and oil
production in Alberta and
Saskatchewan. The company also has
50% ownership in two U.S. refineries. Cenovus shares trade under
the symbol CVE and are listed on the Toronto and New
York stock exchanges. The company's enterprise value is
approximately $24 billion. For more
information, visit cenovus.com.
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SOURCE Cenovus Energy Inc.