The company said that it remains focused on growing its key resource plays, with increased investment aimed at production growth from US natural gas and longer lead time projects such as Canadian oil sands, expanded downstream refining capacity and the advancement of the Deep Panuke natural gas project offshore Nova Scotia.
Investments in Alberta natural gas projects and new oil sands delineation work have been reduced to reflect the recent erosion of economic returns.
The company expects to fund its capital investment with internally generated cash flow, which is underpinned by natural gas hedges, at an average price of about $8.20 per thousand cubic feet, on about 47% of its forecasted gas production from January to the end of October 2008. It also expects to generate an estimated $500 million from divestitures in 2008.
EnCana expects to grow 2008 natural gas production by about 7%, while oil and natural gas liquids production is expected to decrease slightly, resulting in a total production increase of about 5% to about 4.6 billion cubic feet equivalent per day.
