CALGARY – Cenovus Energy said its numbers show significant belt-tightening at the company has made it more financially resilient, in the face of what is expected to be a prolonged period of lower oil prices.
In announcing its third-quarter results Thursday, the Calgary-based oil producer and refiner said it has saved $400 million in costs, while boosting oil sands production by 17 per cent.
It also maintained approximately $4.4 billion of cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet and a net debt to capitalization ratio of 13 per cent.
The company said in an updated email statement to Global News that its job reductions for 2015 are now “largely complete.”
“The 700 job reductions we referenced in our news release are the total for the second half of 2015. It includes the previously reported 540 positions that were already reduced in October as well as other cuts that have taken place since July. This is in addition to approximately 800 staff – primarily contractors – that were impacted by job reductions in the first half of 2015,” the statement said.
Cenovus says the layoffs mean it will have 24 per cent fewer staff at the end of this year compared with the end of 2014, providing $100 million in annual cost savings starting in 2016.
The cuts leave Cenovus with a total of about 4,000 staff by the end of 2015.
The company reported a third-quarter operating loss of $28 million or three cents per share, down from a profit of $372 million or 49 cents per share a year ago.
Net income was $1.8 billion, up from $354 million, driven in part by sale of its royalty portfolio for $3.3 billion cash to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in July.
EDITOR’S NOTE: After Globalnews.ca posted a Canadian Press story based on the October 29, 2015 Cenovus Energy financial statement, Cenovus Energy contacted us to say that there are no plans to lay off more workers in 2015.
With files from The Canadian Press
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