Senior Marine Contracts Advisor

Worker Type: Employee

Group: Commercial Contracts Department

Job Post End Date: 08/02/2024

About this opportunity: 

The Senior Marine Contracts Advisor will be accountable for reviewing, drafting, and negotiating standard and non-standard agreements including marine crude oil commodity agreements with multiple internal/external stakeholders. They will be a subject matter expert in the negotiations of marine crude commodity agreements.

The primary focus of this position is facilitating crude oil, and related products purchase and sale agreements with a concentration on marine transportation with external counterparties. This is a critical front office role which maintains and grows Cenovus’s counterparty base, enabling both transportation and sales optionality in line with Cenovus commercial strategies. This role will work collaboratively with Cenovus’s Houston TX, Dublin OH, St John NL and Calgary AB based teams.

This position can be located in either Calgary AB and/or Houston TX.

What you’ll do:

• Ensure timely and accurate execution, management, and retention of crude oil purchase and sale agreements and charterparty agreements related to marine transactions. This includes, but is not limited to, General Terms and Conditions and Master Agreements with various modes of transportation and negotiation of other commodity agreements
• Manage Cenovus’s marine risk through the issuance of crude oil agreements for transactions involving transportation of crude and petroleum products on vessels, tugs, barges and at associated terminals
• Understanding or knowledge of maritime legislation & regulations, port regulations and terminal requirements
• Lead, initiate and support marine projects and serve as a Subject Matter Expert in the negotiations of marine crude oil agreements.
• Coordinate with Front Office and its support functions such as Credit, Legal, Tax, Accounting, Insurance, Customs and Risk Compliance (“Support Functions”) to draft, negotiate, review, and amend various commodities purchase and sale agreements
• Draft, revise, analyze, and initiate and lead recommendation of changes to contract templates to ensure they are leading industry standard and are aligned with internal partner requirements
• Communicate directly as Cenovus representative with marketing/trading counterparties to complete negotiations of various commodities related products purchase and sale agreements
• Use day-to-day knowledge, recognizing trends and identifying new business needs: work with Front Office and its Support Functions in the development and continuous improvement of precedent agreements, one-off contracts, and Cenovus practices
• Maintain an evolving knowledge of changing industry practices pertinent to marketing agreement types.
• Ensure proper records documentation and contractual data is maintained in SharePoint, and Egistix, and (ETRMs) systems throughout the lifecycle of the contract
• Fully supports compliance with risk policies and SOX controls
• Provide leadership, guidance, and governance to the organization on all aspects of contract management. Train and mentor junior members of the team and seek out mentorship from senior members of other Cenovus teams.

Who you are: 

• Minimum 8 - 10 years related experience in negotiation of marine crude oil purchase and sale agreements and charterparty agreements.
• Certification or training in maritime law & international shipping contracts would be an asset
• Experience reviewing, drafting, and negotiating of various commodity agreements
• Experience in execution, management, and retention of contracts
• Exceptional understanding of Incoterms
• Knowledge of relevant maritime legislation and regulations e.g., Canada Shipping Act/Marine Liability Act and pollution liabilities, MARPOL
• Knowledge of port regulations and terminal requirements
• Proficiency in understanding of legal contractual language
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with exceptional attention to detail
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Strong work ethic with an ability to work both independently and within a collaborative team
• Strong communication and partner management capability
• Ability to function in a fast-paced environment, with competing priorities

Note: The application deadline for this position is 11:59 PM MT August 1st, 2024. 

If you require accessibility assistance to complete the on-line application or otherwise apply for an open position with Cenovus, its subsidiaries and affiliates, please email