Cenovus slapped with $2.5M fine for 2018 offshore oil spill

CBC
Fri, April 26, 2024 

Cenovus Energy logos are on display in a file photo from the Global Energy Show in Calgary in 2022.

Cenovus Energy has 30 days to pay a fine imposed at provincial court in St. John's on Friday. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Cenovus Energy has been ordered to pay a $2.5-million fine for its role in the largest offshore oil spill in Newfoundland and Labrador history.

The fine, which was handed down in St. John's provincial court Friday, must be paid within 30 days.

"We deeply regret this incident happened," said Colleen McConnell, a communications specialist with Cenovus in St. John's in a statement to CBC News. "We work hard every day to protect each other, our communities and the environment."

The 2018 spill from a flowline connector in the South White Rose Extension released about 250,000 litres of oil into the Atlantic ocean.

The extension is affiliated with the White Rose field, about 350 kilometres east of St. John's.

In February, Calgary-based Husky Energy pleaded guilty to three charges laid over the same spill.

The fine represents less than a tenth of one per cent of the $4.1 billion in net earnings that Cenovus reported for 2023.

McConnell's statement says Cenovus has accepted responsibility for what went wrong and implemented several changes in workflow and oversight.

"We've also shared our lessons learned so that industry partners can learn from them and identify how those lessons could apply in their operations," McConnell said.