Cenovus Energy said on Monday it would buy Athabasca Oil in a $5.7 billion (US$4 billion) cash-and-stock deal, cementing its position as one of Canada’s largest oilsands producers at a time the country is aiming to boost crude output. The acquisition of Athabasca — one of the last remaining independent companies in Alberta’s increasingly consolidated oilsands sector — comes a year after Cenovus’ $8.6 billion purchase of MEG Energy. The deal highlights a stronger growth outlook from Canadian oilsands companies in the wake of sweeping regulatory and policy changes by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government aimed at removing barriers to investment by fossil fuel producers. It adds about 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to Cenovus’ thermal oil sands production, and the company said the assets could be expanded to produce 115,000 barrels per day by 2032. Cenovus’ total upstream production in the second quarter of 2026 was approximately 970,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The transaction, expected to close in December, will also give Cenovus full ownership of Athabasca’s subsidiary Duvernay Energy, strengthening its position in the oil-rich Kaybob Duvernay area, where it sees potential to grow output to 20,000 boepd. Shares of Cenovus were down 2.8 per cent in morning trading, while Athabasca shares jumped 14.3 per cent to C$12.17 following the roughly $12-per-share offer, a 13.4 per cent premium to the stock’s last closing price on Friday. Cole Smead, CEO of Smead Capital, who owns Cenovus shares in his portfolio, described the company’s move as aggressive and said it was paying a high price for the assets. But he also said it spoke to Cenovus’ confidence in its ability to advance proposed new oil sands growth projects at Athabasca’s Corner and Leismer sites. “It’s an expensive move, but it’s an optimistic move,” Smead said. “If they’re going to go out and grow production at Athabasca, it means they like the future.” Cenovus CEO Jon McKenzie told analysts on a conference call that Cenovus is contemplating advancing the Corner project three years earlier than Athabasca’s existing development plan, to produce approximately 40,000 bpd by 2032. Carney said last week his government will fast-track the approval process for a new 1-million-bpd proposed crude oil export pipeline to the Pacific coast, which could allow Canadian oil sands producers to significantly expand production. But Canada’s largest oilsands companies, including Cenovus, have not yet made a final investment decision to go ahead with a large-scale carbon capture and storage project that Carney has said is a condition of the new pipeline going ahead. Athabasca shareholders will receive 0.264 Cenovus shares for each share held, valuing the deal at about C$5.76 billion, according to a Reuters calculation based on Athabasca’s 480.34 million shares outstanding per data compiled by LSEG. (Reporting by Pranav Mathur in Bengaluru and Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Shreya Biswas, Shinjini Ganguli and Nia Williams)
