This Canadian-based integrated energy company has had a presence in Canada’s so-called breadbasket region dating back all the way to the mid-1940s.
That’s when Husky Energy established one of its very first oil fields in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan near the Alberta border. It was about the same time Husky opened its first asphalt plant to produce the paving material required to build many of the province’s roads.
Today, Cenovus, which purchased Husky in 2021, is one of Saskatchewan’s top employers with a workforce of more than 1,300 people in the province. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Alta., and has asphalt producing refineries in Lloydminster, Alta. and Superior, Wis. It also has asphalt terminals across Western Canada and the Midwest in the U.S., with Cenovus’ most recent addition being a new terminal near Denver, Colo.
“All of our network is supplied by crude oil produced in Saskatchewan and supported by the brilliant minds in our technical services and innovation lab based in Saskatoon,” said Martin Ray, director of the company’s asphalt and industrial products division. “We like to consider ourselves an integral part of the community and the economy in Saskatchewan.”
Asphalt and industrial products are part of Cenovus’ downstream division that refines crude oil into finished products. Cenovus is the third largest asphalt producer in Canada and the U.S. Other divisions include crude oil and natural gas production and midstream, which is responsible for the transportation of crude oil to the markets that require them.
“I think it’s a cool story and it’s a Canadian story,” Ray said. “We’re a fully integrated company. In other words, our operations involve activities that find, develop and unlock value from commodities that originate in Canada. In our downstream business, our team handles the marketing, transportation and sales of all of these commodities across North America.”
Cenovus provides two essential products to Saskatchewan’s heavy construction sector. The first is diesel fuel to power heavy equipment, which is processed at its upgrader on the Saskatchewan side of Lloydminster. The other is the asphalt used for road building, processed at the Lloydminster refinery and distributed through its terminals in Yorkton and Saskatoon. That asphalt is used in several different road building products, most commonly use as a binder for rocks in asphalt pavement. That same asphalt is also used to create an emulsion to help fill cracks and other imperfections in roadways. It’s essentially heated asphalt combined with water to create a liquid-like substance that can be sprayed on the road.
“We actively want to be part of associations that have influence in the industry and [SHCA] is brilliant at that.”
– Martin Ray, Cenovus
One of the more unique products the asphalt and industrial products division produces is a polymer-modified asphalt. It’s created by combining regular asphalt with rubber and rock to produce pavement that has elastic recovery properties and is able to better survive Canada’s harsh winters. “It’s a super cool technology,” said Ray. “It’s unique in that it can withstand our massive freeze/thaw cycles. It’s an engineered product that can stretch a little bit so it can absorb wear and tear. It’s more resistant to rutting and cracking.”
Something else that distinguishes Cenovus in Saskatchewan is its commitment to research in the province. To support this development, the company donated $2.5 million to Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Time to Rise campaign in 2024. The campaign will fund the construction of the school’s new Saskatoon campus.
As part of this investment, Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s new centralized chemical technology lab, power engineering lab and instrumentation engineering lab will be named the Cenovus Energy Labs. The labs will provide students with the latest technology for hands-on training, something the company says it will need in its future workforce.
The company also recently made a $1.5 million donation to the University of Saskatchewan as part of that institution’s Be What the World Needs campaign. Those funds will be used to help develop the Cenovus Energy Makerspace that will play a key role in advancing engineering innovation and design and provide students access to advanced tools such as polymer 3-D printers and laser cutters.
Ray says it’s all part of a team approach taken by Cenovus to help advance research and create new products that benefit the people of Saskatchewan and the rest of the country. “With academia, the private sector and government, you create a nice triangle of innovation to build the infrastructure that we all use,” he said. “Our role is to be able to build the best quality of roads at the lowest possible cost so that our tax money can go as far as it can. It’s all about industry partnering with academia and with governmental agencies, to provide Canadians better and safer access to commercial and human movement.”
Cenovus’s asphalt division has worked closely with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways on several projects throughout the province over the years. Ray says it has been a great partnership due in large part to the fact the province is committed to engaging in constructive dialogue with the private sector. “Saskatchewan Highways is excellent,” he said. “They engage their contractors, they engage their suppliers and they’ve been really innovative. I give Sask Highways a lot of credit. They’ve been quite progressive in a lot of ways.”
The company also engages in conversations regularly with the many contractors it works with in the province. Many of those conversations centre on technical questions such as which materials may be best suited to rebuild a road or deal with “alligator” cracking or a high-water table.
Another popular topic with those clients is the infrastructure deficit facing the province and what can be done to address the situation. “The infrastructure deficit is always a challenge,” Ray said. “I think Saskatchewan road builders play a big role in helping moderate discussions around infrastructure and [investing] in infrastructure versus other places to invest in the province. They help create an environment in which industry can speak with government to try to manage investment in the road system and bridges.”
“We like to consider ourselves an integral part of the community and the economy in Saskatchewan.”
– Martin Ray, Cenovus
Tariff uncertainty is something that the industry is dealing with now. Tariffs don’t impact asphalt since it’s one of the CUSMA-compliant products protected through the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, but Ray points out that tariffs could mean increased costs to acquire the heavy machinery required to build roads. “Contractors utilize a lot of road building equipment, whether it’s yellow iron [heavy equipment] or trucks. I’ve got to imagine there’s some pressures that [contractors] like all of us are feeling,” he said.
Despite this, Cenovus plans to continue to focus on being a “worldclass” operator of its assets. The company recently completed several planned maintenance upgrades at its asphalt terminals in Yorkton and Saskatoon as part of a 10-year plan. It also has scheduled maintenance planned for its refineries in Lloydminster. Those improvements are all intended to drive a combination of cost, reliability and environmental improvements. “We are proud of our footprint and we’re going to keep investing in that footprint,” Ray said.
Cenovus is also continuing to work with its partners to develop several new and innovative technologies. One of those products is a softer form of asphalt that features different chemical properties that allow more of it to be recycled and incorporated in new roadways rather than shipped to landfills. The company is also involved in research looking into how consumer waste, including plastic polyethylene and other items, can be incorporated into asphalt used to build roads.
Something that isn’t likely to change is the value Cenovus sees in being an SHCA member. “We actively want to be part of associations that have influence in the industry and [SHCA] is brilliant at that,” Ray said.
“They pull together a range of stakeholders in this industry. You’ve got contractors, you have suppliers, you have governments at various different levels. They work collectively to create a forum by which we can be innovative, we can address challenges, we can work with governments to address industry-specific issues and we can advocate for infrastructure spending.”
