Cenovus Energy posts $545M loss but returns to profitability in Q4 2016

Cenovus Energy ended 2016 with a $545 million loss for the full year, but squeezed out a profit in the fourth quarter.

The Calgary-based company which is both an oil producer in Alberta and an oil refiner in the United States says it had $91 million or 11 cents per share of net income in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

That compared with a loss of $641 million or 77 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Cenovus Energy CEO Brian Ferguson says the company has focused on containing costs and spending less on capital projects than originally planned.

The company says it plans to resume investment at its Christina Lake oilsands project, with first oil from Phase G expected in the second half of 2019.

It has also launched a conventional drilling program in southern Alberta, with plans to spend about $160 million in 2017.

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