US-based Cenovus refinery to pay penalty for violating emissions rules

(Reuters) - A U.S.-based refinery owned by Canada's Cenovus Energy will pay a $19 million penalty and spend an estimated $150 million in capital investments after violating emissions rules, U.S. authorities said on Friday.

The penalty is part of a settlement reached between the Lima refinery in Ohio and the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. In a joint statement, the EPA and the department said the plant had emitted illegal amounts of benzene and other volatile organic compounds.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward, writing by David Ljunggren; Editing by Doina Chiacu)