Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO)(CVE) shares fell as much as five per cent on Thursday, as maintenance-related downtime and weaker commodity prices weighed on third quarter financial results.

Calgary-based Cenovus reported $820 million in net income for the three months ending Sept. 30, a 56 per cent year-over-year drop from $1.86 billion. Benchmark oil and gas prices slipped during the quarter, with Canadian natural gas sinking to its lowest level in more than two years.

Cenovus says total upstream production fell by more than 29,500 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) on a quarterly basis, largely due to turnaround activity at its Christina Lake oil sands facility. While overall refining throughput increased in the third quarter, a major turnaround at the Lima refinery in Ohio resulted in the plant running at reduced rate, causing U.S. refining to drop by 25,400 boe versus the second quarter.

“The third quarter was a very heavy maintenance period scheduled across both the upstream and the downstream,” CEO Jon McKenzie said on a Tuesday morning conference call with analysts. “With planned upstream and downstream maintenance activities behind us, we’re well positioned to deliver strong operations for the balance of the year, and into 2025.”

Toronto-listed shares closed 3.41 per cent lower on Tuesday, at $22.39.

McKenzie says the company is “doggedly” confronting its operational issues.

“We are firmly committed and focused on improving the competitiveness of our U.S. business by improving asset reliability,” he said. “We’re attacking this at a reliability level, at a commercial level, and a cost level. Although we’re making progress, we know we’re not there yet.”

TPH & Co. analyst Jeoffrey Lambujon has a $30 per share price target on Toronto-listed Cenovus shares. He says investors will remain focused on improvements to operating expenses and profit margins.

“While expectations on downstream results had been set lower heading into the print, downstream operating margin driving a miss on corporate [cash flow per share] likely keeps the segment a drag on equity performance today,” he wrote in a note to clients.

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

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