Cenovus CEO Alex Pourbaix is looking to cut about $2 billion in debt in the coming months to get the heavy oil producer on a sustainable track.

“I think the company ultimately needs to get down to two-times debt-to-adjusted EBITBA and I would say we have an urgency to get there,” Pourbaix told BNN Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday.

The Calgary-based company currently has about $9.5 billion in total debt and is looking to use increased free cash flow and cash generated from asset sales to reduce that debt, Pourbaix said.

“We would like to shed a couple billion in debt over the coming months and next year to get us down to that two-times level,” he said.

The company reported a $418-million second-quarter loss that was deeper than analysts expected, largely the result of a hedging program that was designed to protect the company from a decline in oil prices.

Reducing the company’s balance sheet is ultimately a better hedge against volatile oil prices, said Pourbaix.

“The message that I tell our shareholders, the message I tell our employees is the best protection that we can have for a volatile commodity is to have a pristine balance sheet and that’s why I’ve been so focused on getting the debt down,” he said. “If we have under-levered balance sheet then we don’t have to worry about hedging actively.”