Cenovus buys crude-by-rail terminal served by CP, CN

Cenovus Energy Inc. has agreed to purchase Canexus Corp.'s North American Terminal Operations, a crude-by-rail transloading facility, for $75 million, the company announced last week.

The acquisition is part of Cenovus' strategy to create a portfolio of transportation options designed to maximize market access and capture global prices for its oil.

The facility is located about 30 miles northeast of Edmonton in Bruderheim, Alberta, Canada. It is strategically located for Cenovus because of its existing pipeline connections to the Cold Lake and Access crude oil pipeline systems, as well as its links to Canadian Pacific and CN rail lines, company officials said in a press release.

"Ownership gives us additional flexibility to get our growing crude oil production to market and allows us to reduce the risk to Cenovus due to pipeline congestion. It also increases our ability to access niche markets not served by pipeline," said Bob Pease, Cenovus executive vice president of markets, products and transportation.

"We expect rail will be an important component of our transportation strategy for years go to come," Pease added.

Cenovus expects to hire a third-party manager of the rail-car transloading facility.