Cenovus removes Terra Nova FPSO from company's report of future plans
CBC
Cenovus Energy has removed the Terra Nova FPSO from its corporate guidance report for 2023, adding another layer of uncertainty around the future of the oil production project.
The project was absent from the energy corporation's report that shows analysts and industry shareholders expected revenues, earnings and operational goals for upcoming quarters. The report says the vessel remains docked in Trinity Bay as it undergoes maintenance to extend its life cycle.
"We are taking a conservative view and have removed Terra Nova volumes from our 2023 guidance," Cenovus CEO Alex Pourbaix told CBC News Wednesday.
The change means Cenovus expects to produce about 10,000 less barrels of oil a day in the coming months.
The refit of the Terra Nova FPSO — a floating production, storage and offloading vessel — is a project largely financed by public money and a break on future oil royalties. It operates in one of the four mature oil fields off of the coast of Newfoundland, along with Hibernia, Hebron and the West White Rose project.
Terra Nova hasn't produced oil since late 2019 after audits by insurers and offshore regulators uncovered a long list of safety concerns. The vessel was sent to Spain for a seven-month overhaul, which dragged on for 13 months, and was expected to resume production between April and June.
Earlier this month CBC News reported that Suncor, which operates the project, was no longer providing timelines of when production could continue.
Norrie Ramsay, Cenovus's executive vice-president for major projects and offshore, said questions about the future of the project are best addressed to Suncor.
"The operator has informed us that they've delayed taking the facility back offshore. We're continuing some maintenance work at Bull Arm," Ramsay said. "I'd refer you to operator in this case."
In an emailed statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for Suncor said the company is continuing to "work through maintenance and commissioning activities to ensure a safe and reliable restart" and is still evaluating any impacts to the schedule.
Ramsay did say that another production project, the West White Rose based in Argentia, is moving forward.
"We're actually very excited about it. There's two big pieces of work on West White Rose at the moment," he said.
The West White Rose is a $3.2 billion expansion project for the White Rose offshore oil field, which includes a gravity-based wellhead platform that will attached to the existing FPSO in Argentia.
Ramsay said a concrete pour to complete the bulk is a process that lasts 60 days, and that Cenovus is about a third of the way through that process.
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This First Person article is the experience of Kristine Thoreson, who lives in Calgary. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.