Glossary
Provided below are definitions for some of the words you may see on our site. Additional industry definitions can be found in the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers glossaries.
| Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) | An independent, quasi-judicial agency of the Government of Alberta. It ensures the safe, efficient, orderly, and environmentally responsible development of hydrocarbon resources over their entire life cycle. This includes allocating and conserving water resources, managing public lands, and protecting the environment while providing economic benefits for all Albertans. |
| bbls/d | Barrel(s) of oil per day |
| bbls | Barrel(s); the common unit for measuring petroleum. |
| Blowdown boiler | Cenovus's patented process to re-boil leftover blowdown water without the need for any additional clean-up or treatment, which enables us to reuse a greater percentage of the water we use to generate steam at our oil sands operations. |
| Bitumen | A heavy, viscous (thick, semi-solid) form of crude oil that cannot be recovered using traditional oil production methods. |
| BOE | Barrel of oil equivalent |
| BOE/d | Barrels of oil equivalent per day |
| Casing² | A type of pipe that is used to encase smaller diameter production pipe for installation in a well. Casing prevents the wall from caving in and protects against groundwater contamination and uncontrolled hydrocarbon releases |
| Carbon dioxide (CO2)² | A non-toxic gas produced from decaying materials, respiration of plant and animal life, and combustion of organic matter, including fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas produced by human activities. |
| Carbon dioxide (CO2) enhanced oil recovery | Carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding is technology that allows us to continue producing oil from a mature field in an environmentally responsible manner by utilizing and then storing CO2 that otherwise would have been vented to the atmosphere. The CO2 acts as a solvent, cleaning oil trapped in the microscopic pores of the reservoir rock, which greatly increases the recovery of oil from a reservoir. |
| Condensate | Recognized as one of the simplest and most stable hydrocarbons and is used as a basic building block in the manufacture of the fuel we put in our cars. Condensate is the heaviest of natural gas liquids, which include methane, ethane, propane and butane. |
| Diluent | A liquid used to dilute bitumen to the point where it will flow and meet viscosity requirements for pipeline transportation. |
| Downstream¹ | The refining and marketing sector of the petroleum industry. |
| EBITDA | Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization |
| Electronic submersible pump (ESP) | A significant technological improvement to our SAGD process that replaces the need for natural gas to bring the oil to the surface while using less water, which improves our steam to oil ratio. |
| Enhanced oil recovery (EOC)¹ | Any method that increases oil production by using techniques or materials that are not part of normal pressure maintenance or water flooding operations. For example, natural gas can be injected into a reservoir to "enhance" or increase oil production. |
| Environmental footprint | The company's impact on the environment, in terms of resource use, waste generation and changes to the physical environment. |
| Field¹ | The surface area above one or more underground petroleum pools sharing the same or related infrastructure. |
| GAAP | Generally accepted accounting principles |
| Greenhouse gases (GHG)² | Gases that trap heat near the Earth’s surface. Greenhouse gases include, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride and water vapor. These gases occur through natural processes (such as ocean currents, cloud cover, volcanoes) and human activities (such as the burning of fossil fuels). |
| Hydrocarbons² | A large class of liquid, solid or gaseous organic compounds, containing only carbon and hydrogen, which are the basis of almost all petroleum products. Compounds made up of only carbon and hydrogen. Fossil fuels are made up of hydrocarbons. |
| Integrated oil | When applied to an oil company, it indicates a firm that operates in both the upstream and downstream sectors (from exploration through refining and marketing). |
| International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) | The accounting principles used by Cenovus to prepare its financial statements. |
| Market crack spread (3-2-1 crack spread) | The difference between the total value of certain refined products and the cost of the crude oil required to generate those products. |
| Mcf | Thousand cubic feet |
| Mcf/d | Thousand cubic feet per day |
| Mcfe | Thousand cubic feet equivalent |
| Minimal disturbance practices | The term used to describe Cenovus's development and construction techniques that minimize disruption of native vegetation and soil, particularly in areas of native prairie. |
| MMcf | Million cubic feet |
| MMcf/d | Million cubic feet per day |
| MMcfe | Million cubic feet equivalent |
| Miscible flood | An oil-recovery process in which a fluid, capable of mixing completely with the oil it contacts, is injected into an oil reservoir to increase recovery. |
| National Energy Board (NEB) | The independent Canadian federal agency that regulates pipelines, energy development and trade. |
| Net asset value (NAV) | The total value of assets minus the total value of liabilities. |
| NOx | Nitrogen oxide |
| NYSE | New York Stock Exchange |
| Oil sands¹ | A deposit of sand saturated with bitumen. Also refers to Cenovus’s geographical area to describe our projects in the oil sands area. |
| Proved reserves | Estimates of oil, gas and natural gas liquid quantities estimated with a high degree of certainty to be recoverable from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions. |
| Reclamation | The return of land to equivalent capability through decommissioning, decontamination, re-contouring, and re-vegetation, with Provincial or Federal government acknowledgement. Cenovus's reclamation activities aim to ultimately support pre-disturbance function and biodiversity. |
| Reserves² | Recoverable portion of resources available for use based on current knowledge, technology and economics. |
| Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD)¹ | A recovery technique for extraction of heavy oil or bitumen that involves drilling a pair of horizontal wells one above the other; one well is used for steam injection and the other for production. A method of extracting heavy oil or bitumen that involves drilling a pair of horizontal wells one above the other; one well is used for steam injection and the other for production. |
| SEDAR | System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval; the system used for electronically filing most securities related information with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. |
| Shallow gas | Cenovus defines shallow gas as natural gas that is generated and accumulated within 185 metres of the earth's surface. |
| Solution gas¹ | Natural gas that is entrained found with crude oil in underground reservoirs. When the oil comes to the surface, the gas expands and comes out of the solution. |
| Solvent-aided process (SAP) | An advanced SAGD technique that combines a solvent, such as butane, with the steam to help dissolve the bitumen and improve recovery from the reservoir. |
| Steam to oil ratio (SOR) |
A key measure of efficiency for operations using SAGD technology is the amount of steam needed to produce a barrel of oil. The quality of our assets and our team's dedication to improving operational performance at our SAGD projects at Foster Creek and Christina Lake allowed us to achieve a combined steam to oil ratio of approximately 2.2 in 2017. This means we used approximately 2.2 barrels of steam to produce one barrel of oil. The water we convert to steam is primarily brackish water, which is not suitable for animal or human consumption, or agriculture, and is mostly recycled. This is among the lowest SOR in the industry. A low SOR allows us to grow and sustain production with comparatively smaller plants and lower energy usage and emissions, all of which results in a smaller environmental footprint. |
| Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) | Legislation to protect shareholders from fraudulent accounting and reporting practices. |
| Sweet gas² | Raw natural gas with a relatively low concentration of sulphur compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide. |
| TSX | Toronto Stock Exchange (formerly known as TSE) |
| Wedge Well™ technology | Wedge Well™ technology involves drilling horizontal wells in the 'pocket' region between two SAGD well pairs to recover oil that can't be recovered as part of the normal SAGD operation. |
| West Texas Intermediate (WTI)² | A benchmark crude oil used as a reference for pricing other crude oils. A 40 API light sweet crude based in Cushing, Oklahoma; one of the benchmark markers for oil. |
¹CAPP
²CFE
™ is a trademark of Cenovus Energy Inc.