Cenovus to match 2018 capital spending for coming year

The chief executive of Cenovus Energy Inc said that he expects the company to invest some $1.5 billion in 2019, in line with 2018 capital spending, after the Alberta government’s mandated oil output cuts boosted Canadian crude prices.

“My company will have a capital program that looks pretty similar to the program we had last year,” Alex Pourbaix said in an interview with Reuters. “We’ll spend the better part of $1.5 billion, give or take, and that would not have been the case if the government hadn’t take action.”

Pourbaix also said he now expects the Canadian heavy crude discount to be closer to $20 below the U.S. benchmark in 2019, rather than $30 to $45 below.

(Reuters)