Encana To Focus On Capital Investment, To Cut Workforce By 20%

(RTTNews) - Encana Corp. (ECA.TO, ECA) Tuesday announced its clear vision and strategy to focus on capital investment in five oil and liquids-rich resource plays in North America. Additionally, the company announced lower cost structures and resetting of dividend.

With respect to aligning the organization as part of the strategy, the company expects to cut about 20 percent of its workforce, and consolidate its office locations to Calgary, Alberta and Denver, Colorado resulting in the closing of its Plano, Texas office. The company said it anticipates the capital program to be about $2.5 billion for 2014 and plans to issue more detailed guidance for that program in mid-December 2013.

Growth of liquids production, and an initial public offering of Encana's Clearwater mineral fee title lands and associated royalty interests, is also under the terms of the strategy. To unlock the additional value from the portfolio through asset divestitures, the company said it will invest about 75 percent of its 2014 capital into five high return oil and liquids-rich plays: the Montney, Duvernay, DJ Basin, San Juan Basin and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.

Further, on November 4, the Board declared a dividend of $0.07 per share payable on December 31, to shareholders of record on December 13.