Cenovus Lloydminster Upgrader. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Cenovus Energy Inc. has largely completed the corporate synergies it expects from its MEG Energy Corp. acquisition and it will be focusing on the operational side in the year ahead, chief executive Jon McKenzie said Thursday.
The oilsands producer closed its $8.6-billion takeover of MEG in November and moved to sort out savings on the human resources, tax, and finance side, McKenzie told a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the company’s latest results.
“So as we move into 2026, we’re really focused on the operations proper,” he said.
Cenovus will be looking to at areas like well pad development, production synergies and other measures as it puts its mark on the combined assets.
McKenzie said that about $120 million of its expected $150 million in cost savings for 2026 are in place, while they continue to work toward the projected $400 million in synergies by 2028.
Dealing with the MEG assets comes as Cenovus also works to start production at its West White Rose offshore operation in the second quarter, though McKenzie said the timing could be tight after rough weather in the North Atlantic.
“We’ve seen an abnormally severe winter storm season with waves as high as 17 metres and winds up to 170 kilometres per hour. Through this, our people have continued to make steady progress.”
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As the company works to finish construction of the more-than-$4-billion project, it is looking at a future of much smaller scale endeavours ahead.
“One of the things we don’t want to get into is big major projects again. So you know, West White Rose is the last of the big major projects.”
He said that outside of some of the work it’s already planned at the MEG assets, projects will be focused on brownfield development, debottlenecking and other incremental production increases.
The shift comes as Cenovus, like many producers, focuses more on shareholder returns over growth.
For the fourth quarter, the company reported a profit of $934 million, up from $146 million a year ago. The energy company says the profit amounted to 50 cents per diluted share for the quarter, up from seven cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31 totalled $10.9 billion, down from $12.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The results came as upstream production amounted to a record 917,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 816,000 a year earlier.
Excluding the acquisition of MEG Energy Corp., Cenovus says production was up five per cent compared with a year earlier.
Downstream throughput totalled 465,500 barrels per day, down from 666,700 in the fourth quarter of 2025, representing an overall utilization rate of 98 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2026.
Companies in this story: (TSX:CVE)
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