Canada's Cenovus Energy Inc. cut its 2016 E&P budget again, as it tries to tackle a steep fall in oil prices that has eroded cash flows.
The company, which reported a much bigger-than-expected loss on Oct. 27, cut the full-year E&P budget to a range between CA$715 million and CA$805 million. The previously forecast budget ranged between CA$740 million and CA$855 million.
Cenovus also narrowed its full-year oil and gas production forecast to a range between 266,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Mboe/d) and 272 Mboe/d. The earlier range was between 258 Mboe/d and 280 Mboe/d.
The company is on track to increase its oil sands production capacity to 390 Mbbl/d on a gross basis, CEO Brian Ferguson said.
Cenovus's oil sands production in the third quarter of 2016 was 153,591 bbl/d, while total oil production was 208,072 bbl/d.
The company reported a net loss of CA$251 million (US$187.6 million), or 30 Canadian cents per share, for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of CA$1.8 billion, or CA$2.16 per share, one year earlier. The year-ago period included a CA$1.9 billion after-tax gain.
Operating loss, which excludes most one-time items, was 28 Canadian cents per share in the latest quarter, much steeper than analysts' average estimate of 9 Canadian cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
(US$1 = 1.3377 Canadian dollars)
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