Canada's Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVE) said it may sell parts of the Deep Basin natural gas assets it recently bought from Houston-based ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) analysts wrote in a research note on April 23.
Cenovus CEO Brian Ferguson held a conference call with analysts last April 21, and the oil company "signaled that it would also be open to potentially monetizing some portion of the Deep Basin midstream assets," according to the note.
"Cenovus has had seven inbound calls from CEOs of various energy companies looking to ensure the company is aware of their interest in certain Deep Basin assets," the analysts wrote.
RBC acted as an adviser for Cenovus for the ConocoPhillips deal. Cenovus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The C$17.7-billion (US$13.3-billion) acquisition last month of ConocoPhillips oil and gas assets effectively doubles the size of Cenovus. But the deal dents the company's pristine balance sheet and saddles the pure-play crude producer with Deep Basin natural gas assets that some investors and analysts have said it has no business holding.
Cenovus shares crashed last month in their biggest single-day drop on news of the deal, which is to be funded through debt and selling shares and what the company deems to be "non-core" assets.
"Select assets within the Deep Basin could be tagged as non-core," according to the RBC note. "This was new to us and opens up interesting de-leveraging possibilities for Cenovus."
While the company had wanted to raise C$3.6 billion through asset sales, it may end up raising more, according to the note.
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