Cenovus CEO To Resign And Up To $5 Billion In Assets To Be Sold.

In early trading on Tuesday, Cenovus Energy shares fell more than 10 percent after the oil company declared arrangements for more asset sales, further cost cutting and the coming retirement of CEO Brian Ferguson.

Following 30 minutes of trading, Cenovus stock was at $9.20, down 10.5 percent from Monday’s close and down very nearly 47 percent since it declared in late March a $17.7 billion blockbuster arrangement to purchase assets from ConocoPhillips.

Cenovus has been criticized for paying such a great amount for the ConocoPhillips oilsands and conventional assets, however Ferguson and other senior administrators have staunchly protected the deal.

The 60-year-old Ferguson, about to resign as CEO and from the top managerial staff on Oct. 31, arranges to remain as an adviser until March ends. In late 2009, he has driven Calgary-based Cenovus since its launch as an independent public company.

Its concentration since parting from Encana, where Ferguson was the CFO, has been on conventional and oilsands production in Western Canada, with investments in two U.S. refineries.

Cenovus says it’s working towards offering between $4 billion and $5 billion of assets, an expansion from past arrangements to raise in any event $3.6 billion through dispositions before the year’s over.

It now expects to offer its whole legacy non-oilsands portfolio including Pelican Lake, Suffield, Weyburn and Palliser which together produce around 112,000 barrels of oil equivalent every day.

Cenovus says it’s likewise planning to slice up to an extra $1 billion in costs throughout the following three years.

About half of the funds are expected from efficiencies from its expanded size and redesigned drilling strategies.

It’s likewise going for about $375 million of investment funds from general and administrative costs, including from an optimized workforce.