Alberta
Cenovus CEO Pourbaix to step down, become executive chair; Jon McKenzie to be new CEO
By Amanda Stephenson in Calgary
Cenovus Energy Inc. chief executive Alex Pourbaix will step down from his CEO role later this year to devote more time to his evolving role as an outspoken champion of Canada’s oilsands industry and its decarbonization ambitions.
The Calgary-based energy company said Thursday that Pourbaix, who has led Cenovus since November of 2017, will become executive chair, while chief operating officer Jon McKenzie will become CEO in a transition that will take place after the company’s annual meeting set for April 26.
On a conference call with analysts, Pourbaix said the change will allow him to focus his attention on external efforts, including working with all levels of government to advance the oil and gas industry’s decarbonization goals.
Cenovus is a member of the Pathways Alliance, a group of oilsands companies that together have pledged to spend $24.1 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oilsands production by 22 million tonnes by 2030.
Pourbaix has been one of the most outspoken advocates of the Pathways plan and has been heavily involved in the group’s efforts to secure federal and provincial support for a massive proposed carbon capture and storage transportation line that would capture carbon dioxide from oilsands facilities and transport it to a storage facility near Cold Lake, Alta.
“Next to safety, there is nothing more important to Cenovus and our industry than reaching a durable solution between government and industry to achieve our emission aspirations,” Pourbaix said.
“Once I move to the executive chair position, I intend to dedicate even more time to this pivotal external issue for both Cenovus and our industry.”
Pourbaix was one of the prominent industry voices who successfully lobbied the federal government for the creation of an investment tax credit for carbon capture and storage projects in Canada, which was announced in the federal budget last year.
However, he has also been vocal in his stance that more government support is needed before companies will pull the trigger on investing in carbon capture. Pourbaix and other oil and gas sector leaders have said Canada needs to do more to stay competitive with the U.S. and its Inflation Reduction Act, which they say offers more incentives for the technology.
Environmental groups have been critical of the industry’s lobbying for more support, given the record profits oil and gas companies earned in 2022 due to sky-high commodity prices.
Cenovus earned $6.45 billion in 2022 compared with $587 million in 2021.
Pourbaix said Thursday that he wants to see the industry, the federal government, and the Alberta government come to some type of “durable” agreement as to what this country’s emissions reduction ambitions are. He added that a structure needs to be put in place to make sure the oil and gas sector can achieve those goals while still remaining economically viable.
“I think it’s just incredibly important for Canadians that we find a way for this industry to be able to continue to thrive, and the way we’re going to do that is by constantly improving our environmental leadership,” Pourbaix said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith released the contents of a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday in which she calls for the creation of a minister-led working group aimed at coming up with a coordinated CCUS federal-provincial incentive program.
Smith said Alberta is willing to coordinate a federal CCUS income tax credit with an expansion of the province’s current Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP) to include carbon capture projects.
But she said Alberta will not cooperate if Ottawa continues to push ahead with introduction of its proposed Just Transition legislation, or with a pledged federal cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector.
The announcement of the change at Cenovus’ executive level came as the company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $784 million or 39 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a loss of $408 million or 21 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in the quarter was $14.1 billion, up from $13.7 billion in the last three months of 2021.
Cenovus reported total upstream production amounted to 806,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day for its most recent quarter, down from 825,300 a year earlier.
Total downstream throughput was 473,500 barrels per day, up from 469,900 in the fourth quarter or 2021.
On the call with analysts, McKenzie — who joined Cenovus in 2018 from Husky Energy as chief financial officer, and was instrumental in Cenovus’s merger with that company — said he expects a smooth transition to the CEO role, with little change in corporate focus.
“Both Alex and I have our fingerprints all over the corporate strategy, and we developed this in a partnership together with the rest of our leadership team,” McKenzie said.
Pathways Alliance president Kendall Dilling said in an emailed statement Thursday that he is grateful Pourbaix will continue to devote his energy to the group’s ambitions.
“Alex’s contributions to not only the creation of Pathways Alliance, but to our continued efforts to decarbonize our industry’s production, have been monumental,” Dilling said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2023.
Companies in this story: (TSX:CVE)
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu of the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security
Premier Danielle Smith has joined the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security to further support advocacy of Alberta’s energy and environmental interests with key U.S. states.
The coalition was established in September 2024 by U.S. State governors Jeff Landry (Louisiana) and Chris Sununu (New Hampshire) with the aim of ensuring energy security, lower energy costs, increased reliability, sustainable economic development and sensible management of energy resources and the environment. With 12 U.S. states already signatories to the coalition, Alberta is the first non-U.S. state to enter into this agreement.
By expanding energy ties with the U.S. and promoting cross-border energy trade and participation, Alberta is helping to build upon its North American Energy strategy. Alberta already accounts for 56 per cent of all oil imports to the U.S. – twice as much as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Iraq combined – which is helping to drive job creation and prosperity on both sides of the border. Natural gas also plays an important role in North America’s energy mix. Alberta is the largest producer of natural gas in Canada and remains positioned to support the U.S. in filling their domestic supply gaps.
“I am honoured to join the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security and would like to extend my sincere thanks to governors Landry and Sununu for the invitation. Alberta plays a vital role in North American energy security, serving as the largest supplier of crude oil and natural gas to the United States. With 200 billion barrels of recoverable oil, 200 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, significant natural gas liquids and ample pore space for carbon capture, Alberta’s contribution is set to grow even further as we look to work with the Trump Administration and other U.S. partners to increase our pipeline capacity to our greatest friend and ally, the United States. We are proud to collaborate with this coalition of allied states in advancing energy security, reliability and affordability for Americans and Canadians.”
“Our mission as an organization has not changed but Alberta’s welcome arrival to our group sparked a conversation about what our core mission is, and that is ensuring energy security in all its forms. Our members all share the common goal of enhancing and protecting energy options for our people and businesses, which leads to lower energy costs, increased reliability, sustainable economic development and wise management of energy resources and the environment. I welcome Premier Smith and the insights she will bring as the leader from a fellow energy-producing province, that like my state, is under a federal system of government where national imperatives are not always aligned with state or provincial interests.”
Alberta is a global leader in emissions reduction technology and clean energy solutions. The province has captured about 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide through carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, and has the ability to support the U.S. in developing new infrastructure and supply chains for future energy markets in the areas of hydrogen, renewables, small modular reactors and others.
Alberta is also unlocking its untapped geological potential to help meet the increasing demand for minerals – many of which are used worldwide to manufacture batteries, cell phones, energy storage cells and other products. This includes the province’s lithium sector where Alberta’s government is supporting several innovative projects to develop new ways to extract and concentrate lithium faster and with higher recovery rates that are less capital and energy intensive and have a smaller land-use footprint.
As part of this coalition, Alberta looks forward to sharing best practices with states that already have expertise in these areas.
Quick facts
- The U.S. is Alberta’s largest trading partner, with C$188 billion in bilateral trade in 2023.
- In 2023, energy products accounted for approximately C$133.6 billion, or more than 80 per cent of Alberta’s exports to the U.S.
- The Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security’s 12 signatory states include Louisiana, New Hampshire, Indiana (Governor Eric Holcomb), Alabama (Governor Kay Ivey), Georgia (Governor Brian Kemp), Tennessee (Governor Bill Lee), South Dakota (Governor Kristi Noem), Mississippi (Governor Tate Reeves), Arkansas (Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders), Oklahoma (Governor Kevin Stitt), Wyoming (Governor Mark Gordon) and Virginia (Governor Glenn Youngkin).
Helping builders by putting an end to housing delays
Alberta’s new Stop Housing Delays online portal will allow developers, municipalities and other housing partners to report red tape and unnecessary home-building delays.
Alberta’s government is focused on ensuring Albertans have access to the housing they need, and that means working to streamline processes, cut red tape and reduce delays that are slowing housing construction down. As part of this work, government has launched a new online portal to help in these efforts.
The Stop Housing Delays online portal is now available for developers and municipal authorities to help identify areas that are preventing fast and efficient residential construction. This portal will help government identify and address barriers to building homes across the province.
“The Stop Housing Delays portal will allow Alberta’s government to hear directly from developers, municipalities and other partners on where delays are happening in the construction process. This will help identify and remove barriers, ultimately getting homes built faster and continuing Alberta’s record home-building pace.”
“Alberta’s government will continue to work with municipalities and find solutions to speed up the home-building process. The Stop Housing Delays portal will give us another tool to inform those discussions and identify areas where we can improve the pace of home building.”
Once developers, municipalities or industry partners have submitted their issue using the online form, government will collect and assess the information provided. Alberta’s government will be taking a collaborative, cross-ministry approach to ensure the appropriate departments are working together to find solutions where possible. Solutions may range from minor changes to policy reform.
Alberta’s government continues to support builders and encourage new residential housing construction by reducing red tape, incentivizing housing construction and supporting innovative strategies to build homes faster than ever.
“This webpage is an excellent opportunity to gather knowledge and further eliminate red tape. Government has been persistent in our approach of cutting red tape and removing roadblocks, and this will help to speed up residential construction. I look forward to hearing from developers and our other partners on how we can help get projects moving and Albertans in homes.”
Alberta continues to see strong housing starts and increases while other provinces across Canada are seeing a reduction in housing starts. The first half of 2024 saw 9,903 apartment unit starts in the province. This marks the highest amount in any half year in Alberta’s history, breaking the previous record of 9,750 set in 1977. Albertans will benefit from 33,577 new housing starts from January through September 2024, up 35 per cent from the same period last year. Alberta’s government remains focused on working with industry and non-profit partners to ensure that the province’s growing population has access to the housing it needs.
“This portal is a valuable tool for industry to highlight gaps, barriers and delays that may need to be prioritized and addressed by either local or provincial governments. Real solutions can only emerge through transparency, open communication and collaboration. This is an important step toward identifying the unique challenges each region and municipality faces in delivering attainable housing.”
Quick Facts
- Housing starts for January – September 2024 compared with January – September 2023
- Provincewide: 33,577 compared with 24,904 (up 35 per cent)
- Edmonton: 13,359 compared with 9,099 (up 47 per cent)
- Calgary: 17,414 compared with 14,141 (up 23 per cent)
- Lethbridge: 599 compared with 148 (up 305 per cent)
- Red Deer: 314 compared with 146 (up 115 per cent)
- Data shows Alberta had 10,699 purpose-built rentals, making up 32 per cent of all housing starts.
- Since 2019, Alberta’s government has invested almost $850 million to build more than 5,100 units and close to 900 shelter spaces. This includes projects we have committed to, that are in progress and that are complete.
- Together with its partners, Alberta’s government is supporting $9 billion in investments into affordable housing to support 25,000 additional low-income households by 2031.
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