(Adds 2018 forecasts, background on job cuts and CEO)
Dec 14 (Reuters) - Canadian oil sands company Cenovus Energy Inc CVE.TO said on Thursday it will cut an additional 15 percent of its workforce and lower operating expenses as new chief executive, Alex Pourbaix, works aggressively to cut costs and lower debt.
Cenovus, which has been under investor pressure to justify its C$17 billion ($13.3 billion) deal to buy ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) COP.N assets, brought in Pourbaix as CEO in November. Cenovus had said in June that it expected to cut some jobs, but had not specified the scale.
The company also said it expects to reduce its operating costs per-barrel by 8 percent, compared with estimated 2017 expenses, and lower capital costs needed to sustain each oil barrel by 12 percent. priorities for 2018 are to reduce costs and deleverage our balance sheet," Pourbaix said in a statement.
As of Nov. 15, Cenovus had raised just under C$4 billion out of a targeted C$4 billion to C$5 billion to pay down the debt it took on to fund the ConocoPhillips deal.
Cenovus also said it expects to produce between 483,000 to 510,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2018, an increase of 4-5 percent compared to 2017.