Canada’s Cenovus to sell some Deep Basin gas assets

Canadian oil producer Cenovus Energy Inc has put a package of some of its Deep Basin gas assets for sale, the company's new chief executive said on Wednesday, adding that Cenovus was looking to reduce costs in the long term.

The assets in Deep Basin, which straddles the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, were not core to the business, said Alex Pourbaix, who took charge as CEO earlier this month.

"If there's anything that I might put a slight twist on strategy, it's going to be re-emphasizing the focus on bottom line, profitability and returning value," Pourbaix said in his first media briefing since taking charge.

Cenovus has raised just under C$4 billion ($3.1 billion) of a targeted C$4 billion to C$5 billion to pay down debt it took for buying some of ConocoPhillips' Canadian assets in March.

Pourbaix replaced Brian Ferguson, who left after investors balked at the purchase, sending its stock to a record low of C$9.41, losing about half its market value. .

On Wednesday, the shares were trading down 1.8 percent at C$13.01, while the benchmark Canada stock index was flat.

Pourbaix said more divestitures were needed, and that the company had to prove to investors that it could efficiently operate the assets bought from ConocoPhillips.

He did not elaborate on the specific Deep Basin assets to be sold and declined to say how much the company expected to fetch.

"It's pretty early days now," he said. "We'll wait to see what the bidders think."

Beyond divestitures and delivering on the ConocoPhillips assets, a path charted by Ferguson, the company will focus on cutting costs so that it can compete with its global peers, Pourbaix said.

(Reporting by Ethan Lou, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)