Projects / Foster Creek

Foster Creek

Cenovus Energy Inc.
No modeled maintenance in the forward windowSAGDCVE

OperatorCenovus Energy Inc.
TypeSAGD
TickerCVE
ST53 schemeFoster Creek
DescriptionFoster Creek is a steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oil sands project in northeast Alberta producing diluted bitumen. It is one of Cenovus's two core in-situ assets alongside Christina Lake.
Source: Cenovus Energy, Second quarter 2026 results, 2026-07-29
StatusOperating. The project is part of the Foster Creek Christina Lake partnership scheme and is an established operating facility. Planned turnaround frequency and duration: not disclosed.
Nameplate capacityNameplate capacity is 210,000 bbl/d of bitumen, after a debottlenecking/optimization program.
Source: Oil Sands Magazine, Cenovus grows capacity at Foster Creek and upsizes expansion at Christina Lake North, 2026-02-20

Demonstrated output has exceeded the stated nameplate: all-time maximum 245,300 bbl/d in July 2026 (AER ST53, scheme "Foster Creek"). Modeled nameplate confirmed at 210,000 bbl/d, 2026-09-23: credible and conservative against demonstrated history. Per the standing rule, where actuals beat announced nameplate, history wins.
Start-up / phasesnot tracked in the public data used here
Ownership / JV splitCenovus Energy Inc. owns 100% and operates Foster Creek, effective May 17, 2017, when ConocoPhillips completed the sale of its 50% non-operated interest in the Foster Creek Christina Lake (FCCL) partnership to Cenovus.
Source: ConocoPhillips, ConocoPhillips Completes Sale of Foster Creek Christina Lake Partnership Interest and Western Canada Deep Basin Gas Assets to Cenovus, 2017-05-17
Product and dispositionBitumen: flexible disposition, dilbit to market or upgrader feed (economically optimized)
Source: Dashboard grade-layer panel (leaf mapping lineage); disposition defaults from annotations/maintenance_disposition_history.md
Process / technologySAGD with solvent co-injection optimization.
Source: Cenovus Energy, Second quarter 2026 results, 2026-07-29
Froth treatmentnot applicable (in-situ / upgrading)
Interconnectsnot tracked in the public data used here
Growth / expansionsA sanctioned solvent-aided project is expected to add 5,000 to 10,000 bbl/d of production by 2028.
Source: Cenovus Energy, Second quarter 2026 results, 2026-07-29

A sulphur recovery project at Foster Creek was completed, with disclosed expected cost savings of $0.50 to $0.75 per barrel.
Source: Cenovus Energy, Second quarter 2026 results, 2026-07-29
Company-disclosed maintenanceA turnaround was conducted at Foster Creek in Q2 2026. Note: secondary-sourced; primary disclosure of planned turnaround frequency and duration was not found in reviewed sources.
Source: Oil Sands Magazine, Cenovus grows capacity at Foster Creek and upsizes expansion at Christina Lake North, 2026-02-20
Operating costsPer-barrel operating cost for Foster Creek specifically was not disclosed. Cenovus disclosed that the completed sulphur project is expected to reduce costs by $0.50 to $0.75/bbl.
Source: Cenovus Energy, Second quarter 2026 results, 2026-07-29

Blank "not tracked" cells are facts not present in the public data used here. They are labeled, never estimated. Filing-sourced facts carry their document name and date; where sources disclose multiple bases for one figure, all are shown.

Production

310.7 kb/d
latest actual, Jul 2026 (Foster Creek (Cenovus))
279.5 kb/d
12-month forecast average, Oct 2026 to Sep 2027
Foster Creek (Cenovus) monthly production Foster Creek (Cenovus) monthly production kb/d 0.0 125.0 250.0 375.0 500.0 Aug 25: 266.4 kb/d Sep 25: 276.7 kb/d Oct 25: 276.0 kb/d Nov 25: 268.7 kb/d Dec 25: 291.6 kb/d Jan 26: 277.7 kb/d Feb 26: 282.7 kb/d Mar 26: 287.5 kb/d Apr 26: 296.7 kb/d May 26: 283.2 kb/d Jun 26: 235.5 kb/d Jul 26: 310.7 kb/d Aug 26: 283.6 kb/d Sep 26: 288.0 kb/d Oct 26: 287.0 kb/d Nov 26: 292.3 kb/d Dec 26: 297.4 kb/d Jan 27: 283.3 kb/d Feb 27: 280.9 kb/d Mar 27: 273.5 kb/d Apr 27: 238.6 kb/d May 27: 261.3 kb/d Jun 27: 280.2 kb/d Jul 27: 287.4 kb/d Aug 27: 283.6 kb/d Sep 27: 288.0 kb/d 288.0 Aug 25 Oct 25 Dec 25 Feb 26 Apr 26 Jun 26 Aug 26 Oct 26 Dec 26 Feb 27 Apr 27 Jun 27 Aug 27 Sep 27
Vintage: AER ST53 actuals through 2026-07 (ST39 through 2026-05), pulled 2026-09-22; Aug-Sep 2026 nowcast estimated, built 2026-09-23; forecast built 2026-09-22. Solid orange shading marks months with modeled maintenance on this series. Series: Foster Creek (Cenovus).
Actuals (AER)Nowcast (model est.)Forecast (model)Modeled maintenance month
Latest actuals (kb/d)
SeriesFeb 2026Mar 2026Apr 2026May 2026Jun 2026Jul 2026
Foster Creek (Cenovus)282.7287.5296.7283.2235.5310.7
First forecast months (kb/d)
SeriesOct 2026Nov 2026Dec 2026Jan 2027Feb 2027Mar 2027
Foster Creek (Cenovus)287.0292.3297.4283.3280.9273.5

Full 26-month table with drill-down lives in the trading dashboard. Blank cells are months AER has not published yet, not zeros.

How to read Foster Creek (Cenovus): Apr 2027 dip to 188.4 is seasonal. Q2 2026 turnaround complete; no 2027 plan stated.

Maintenance

No maintenance events in the current model math for this project.

Forward calendar (Oct 2026 to Sep 2027)

TimingEventImpact kb/dStandingSource
Oct 2026 to Dec 2026 (quarter precision)No turnaround in window (stated)not stated (null, never estimated)Guidance sourcedCenovus Energy Inc., Cenovus announces second-quarter 2026 results (2026-07-29)

Pattern-indicated entries are indicators only: they carry no volume and never enter model math. Math requires public-confirmed guidance.

Outlook

Named assumptions: Apr 2027 dip to 188.4 is seasonal. Q2 2026 turnaround complete; no 2027 plan stated.

Confirmation status: model forecast; maintenance impacts enter the math only from public-confirmed guidance.

Market relevance

In-situ bitumen has flexible disposition (dilbit to market or upgrader feed). In the model, Foster Creek output is unchanged by upgrader outages and any upgrader-bound share is assumed diverted to dilbit, so its 279.5 kb/d 12-month forecast average is a steady contributor to marketable dilbit across the tradable window.

Basis: model-derived from the dashboard series above; no external view is added.

Related weekly notes

No weekly edition to date mentions this asset by name.

Sources

Foster Creek (Cenovus)
Source: AER ST53, commercial scheme mapping (repo annotations/projects.yaml)
Vintage: AER ST53 actuals through 2026-07, pulled 2026-09-22; model nowcast (_seasonal_baseline + confirmed maintenance), built 2026-09-23
Method: actuals: ST53 scheme observed, grossed up by 1.27 to ST3 in-situ level (mapped projects cover 79.0%). forecast: _seasonal_baseline (trailing-12m mean x seasonal factor from last 3 complete years).

Full citation block

Sources
PublisherDatasetURLPublishedVintage / coverageRetrieved
Alberta Energy RegulatorST3: Alberta Energy Resource Industries Monthly Statisticshttps://www.aer.ca/data-and-performance/data-and-publications/statistical-reports/st3MonthlyActuals through 2026-07 (latest file vintage 2026-08-27)2026-09-22
Alberta Energy RegulatorST53: In-situ project data (BITUMEN sheet)https://www.aer.ca/data-and-performance/data-and-publications/statistical-reports/st53MonthlyActuals through 2026-072026-09-22
Alberta Energy RegulatorST39: Mine and upgrader facility dataURL not recorded in repoMonthlyActuals through 2026-052026-09-22
Canada Energy RegulatorPipeline throughput, capacity and apportionment (open data)https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/open/energy/throughput-capacity/Monthly, ~3-month lagJan 2018 to Jun 20262026-09-22
Company disclosuresQuarterlies, budget releases, investor presentations, earnings callsURLs per record in annotations/maintenance_forward.yamlAs publishedForward maintenance calendar window 2026-10-01 to 2027-09-30, compiled 2026-09-222026-09-22
Heavy Reading modelWCSB S&D dashboard build (21 granular leaves, grade layer, maintenance math)No public URL (repo build)Per buildForecast built 2026-09-22; Aug-Sep 2026 nowcast built 2026-09-232026-09-23

Every number on this page traces to a row above. Anything missing its own source line is flagged in place; nothing ships with an unsourced number.

Heavy Reading · the WCSB supply letter.
Public information only: AER ST3/ST39/ST53 and company disclosures via the WCSB S&D model. Nothing here is licensed data, so this page renders the same with or without ?public=1.