The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Cenovus Energy came close to meeting profit estimates for the quarter, but higher production and refinery throughput volumes boosted the company's shares by up to 7 per cent on Thursday. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that upstream production rose to 808,600 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the fourth quarter from 806,900 boe/d a year earlier, while downstream throughput increased to 579,100 barrels a day from 473,500 b/d. U.S. refining margins, however, were hit by a $430-million non-cash write-down of refined product and crude oil inventory, as well as unplanned outages at Cenovus's Lima, Ohio, refinery and the Borger, Tex., plant operated by Phillips 66. Cenovus's U.S. refineries have been a drag on earnings in recent years, after a deadly fire at its 160,000 b/d Toledo, Ohio, plant in 2022 and an explosion at its 49,000 b/d Superior, Wis., refinery in 2018. Both refineries restarted last year. Superior is running at 65- to 70-per-cent utilization rates, with plans to increase throughput in the second quarter of 2024, Cenovus said. The company's other U.S. refineries are running at utilization rates north of 90 per cent in the first quarter.