CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Cenovus Energy Inc CVE.TO, Canada's newest oil sands company, will stay out of the acquisition market as it concentrates on its own holdings in northern Alberta and elsewhere, its chief executive said on Monday.

Chief Executive of Cenovus Energy Inc. Brian Ferguson gestures while speaking during the Oil Sands Summit in Calgary, Alberta, March 22, 2010. REUTERS/Jack Cusano

Cenovus CEO Brian Ferguson said the company, spun off late last year from EnCana Corp ECA.TO, has 10 projects it has identified for development on its own lands, so it has no need to bulk up through deals.

“We have such a tremendous opportunity inside our organic portfolio,” Ferguson told the Reuters Canadian Oil Sands Summit.

“The big thing that I’m focusing on right now is getting a really good understanding of the resource that we have at hand and how to move that forward in terms of net present value.”

The company expects 10 percent to 15 percent annual production increases from its Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in northern Alberta.

Foster Creek is pumping about 105,000 barrels a day currently, making it the largest steam-driven oil sands development. Ferguson said plans are to double that in 10 years.

The company has three packages of non-core natural gas and conventional oil assets on the auction block and is targeting proceeds of C$500 million ($490 million) in 2010.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Cenovus produced 765 million cubic feet of natural gas, most of it as a hedge to the volumes the company uses to generate steam for oil sands projects it runs in its production and refining joint venture with U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips COP.N.

Meanwhile, the $3.6 billion expansion at the Wood River, Illinois, refinery, is on time and on budget, Ferguson said.

“At the end of December it was a little over 70 percent complete, both in terms of schedule and cost,” he said.

($1=$1.02 Canadian)