Ovintiv

Ovintiv Inc. (former name: Encana Corporation) is a hydrocarbon exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Denver, United States. It was founded and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta,[3][4] and was the largest energy company[5] and largest natural gas producer in Canada.[6] The company was rebranded Ovintiv and relocated to Denver in 2019–20.

Ovintiv Inc.
FormerlyEncana Corporation
TypePublic company
NYSE: OVV
TSX: OVV
IndustryOil and gas
PredecessorsEncana Corporation
PanCanadian Energy Corporation
Alberta Energy Company
FoundedApril 4, 2002 (2002-04-04) in Calgary, Canada
Headquarters
Denver, Colorado,
,
United States
Key people
Doug Suttles, President and CEO
Clayton H. Woitas, Chairman
Sherri A. Brillon, CFO
ProductsPetroleum
Natural gas
Natural gas liquids
Production output
564.9 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (3,456,000 GJ) per day (2019)
Revenue $6.726 billion (2019)
$234 million (2019)
Total assets $21.487 billion (2019)
Total equity $9.930 billion (2019)
Number of employees
2,571 (2019)
Websitewww.ovintiv.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

History
Former logo (as Encana)

When the Canadian Pacific Railway was formed, the government of Sir John A. Macdonald compensated it for assuming the risk of developing the railroad with the subsurface rights for a checkerboard pattern of most of Alberta and part of Saskatchewan. These rights were later spun off to the company's predecessors.[7]

In 1883, Canadian Pacific Railway drilled for water near Medicine Hat, Alberta and discovered natural gas.[8]

On July 3, 1958, Canadian Pacific created "Canadian Pacific Oil and Gas" to manage its oil and gas properties and its mineral rights.[9]

In 1971, Canadian Pacific Oil and Gas merged with "Central-Del Rio Oils", creating "Pan Canadian Petroleum Limited".[10][11]

In April 2002, PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd was spun out of Canadian Pacific Limited. It subsequently merged with Alberta Energy Corporation to form EnCana. Gwyn Morgan was named president and CEO.[1]

In October 2004, EnCana sold its UK unit, including a 43% stake in the Buzzard field (discovered in 2001 by a PanCanadian-led group), to Nexen for $2.1bn US.[12]

In January 2007, the company sold its assets in Chad to China National Petroleum Corporation for $202.5 million.[13][14]

In May 2007, the company sold its assets in the delta of the Mackenzie River.[15]

In spring 2008, residents from Pavillion, Wyoming, approached the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about changes in water quality from their domestic wells. Encana was the primary natural gas producer in the area. In 2009, the EPA announced that it had found hydrocarbon contaminants in residents' drinking water wells.[16]

The Bow, Encana and Cenovus' headquarters, was announced in 2006 and completed in 2013

In 2009, Encana completed the corporate spin-off of Cenovus Energy, which held its oil business, representing one-third of total production and reserves, and EnCana Corporation retaining its natural gas business.[17][18] Investors favoured the split as it allowed the flexibility to choose between investing in oil, gas, or both.[19]

In November 2011, a potential buyer backed out of a $45 million deal to buy the company's gas field in Pavillion, Wyoming.[20]

In December 2011, the company sold the majority of its natural gas producing assets in the Barnett Shale.[21]

In February 2012, Mitsubishi paid approximately C$2.9 billion for a 40% interest in the Cutbank Ridge Partnership with Encana, which involves 409,000 net acres of Montney Formation natural gas lands in northeast British Columbia.[22][23] The company also sold its midstream assets in the Cutbank Ridge to Veresen for C$920 million.[24]

In December 2012, Encana announced a US$2.1 billion joint venture with state-owned, Beijing-based PetroChina through which PetroChina received a 49.9% stake in Encana's Duvernay Formation acreage in Alberta. This was in line with the rules that "favor minority stakes over takeovers" since Prime Minister Stephen Harper's December 7, 2012 prohibition of purchases by state-owned enterprises seeking to invest in Canadian oil.[25][26]

At the end of 2012, Encana's staff had increased to 4,169 employees.[27]

Encana and Cenovus' headquarters, The Bow in Calgary, was completed in 2013, becoming the tallest building in Canada outside of Toronto.[28] The project, owned by H&R REIT, was announced as Encana's headquarters in 2006, prior to the Cenovus split.[29]

In November 2013, the company cut its dividend, announced layoffs of 20% of its employees, closure of its office in Plano, Texas, and plans to sell assets and to found a separate company for its mineral rights and royalty interests across southern Alberta.[27] It planned to invest 75% of its 2014 capital budget into 5 projects: Projects in the Montney Formation and the Duvernay Formation in Alberta, the San Juan Basin in New Mexico, Louisiana's Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, and the Denver-Julesburg Basin (DJ Basin) in northeast Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska.[27][30]

In June 2014, the company sold its Bighorn assets in Alberta to Jupiter Resources for US$1.8 billion.[31]

In November 2014, the company acquired Athlon Energy for $7.1 billion.[32]

In May 2014, Jonah Energy LLC acquired the company's Jonah Field operations in Sublette County, Wyoming.[33]

In June 2014, the company acquired assets in the Eagle Ford Group from Freeport-McMoRan for $3.1 billion.[34]

In August 2015, the company sold its assets in the Haynesville Shale for $850 million to affiliates of GSO Capital Partners and GeoSouthern Energy.[35]

In December 2015, the company significantly cut its dividend and capital expenditures budget after a fall in energy prices.[36]

In July 2016, the company sold its assets in the Denver Basin for $900 million.[37][38]

In June 2017, the company sold its assets in the Piceance Basin for $735 million.[39][40]

In May 2018, the company permanently ceased production at Deep Panuke. The Deep Panuke project produced and processed natural gas 250 kilometers offshore southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia.[41] The platform was sent for recycling in 2020.[42]

In December 2018, the company sold its assets in the San Juan Basin for $480 million.[43][44]

In February 2019, the company acquired Newfield Exploration.[45][46]

In October 2019, the company announced plans to move its operations from Canada to Denver, where its CEO lived, and change its name to Ovintiv.[47][4]

Of particular criticism was the removal of the "Cana" in EnCana, which was thought to symbolize the changing of headquarters from Calgary to Denver. Encana's departure "only intensified the gloom enveloping the Canadian energy industry after foreign companies sold more than US$30 billion".[48] Youssef Youssef, a commerce professor at Humber College in Toronto, also takes this perspective, citing the difficulty in changing a brand as recognizable as this one "(Encana) was a solid brand and it had resonance within the Canadian oil industry, and everybody knows the company, so to change the brand, it takes a lot of steps.”[49]

On January 24, 2020, after receiving shareholder approval, the company completed the transfer of its corporate domicile from Canada to the United States.[50]

In June 2020, the company announced layoffs of 25% of its workforce.[51][52][53]

Operations

In 2019, the company's average production was 1.577 billion cubic feet per day (44.7×10^6 m3/d) of natural gas and 164.4 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (1,006,000 GJ) per day of petroleum, and 137.5 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (841,000 GJ) per day of natural gas liquids.[2]

The company has a land position in Canada of 1.680 million net acres, of which about 1.112 million net acres are undeveloped.[2] Its assets in Canada are in the Montney Formation, where it has a partnership with Mitsubishi to develop Cutbank Ridge, the Duvernay Formation, Wheatland County, Alberta, and the Horn River Formation.[2]

In the United States, the company holds approximately 1.077 million net acres of land, of which 207,000 net acres are undeveloped. It operates in the Eagle Ford Group, Permian Basin, Anadarko Basin, Arkoma Basin, Uinta Basin, and the Williston Basin.[2]

Lawsuits

Alleged collusion and bid rigging with Chesapeake Energy

From 2008 through 2010, the company accumulated 250,000 net acres in the Collingwood-Utica Shale gas play in the Middle Ordovician Collingwood formation of the Michigan Basin at an average cost of $150/acre.[54] In May 2012, the company paid about $185 an acre for oil and gas rights on 2,156 acres (873 hectares) at an auction by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which was "88 percent less than the average paid two years ago in the area".[55]

In July 2012, Reuters reported about e-mails between the company and Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest natural gas producer in the U.S., to divide up Michigan counties state land leases to suppress land prices in an October 2010 auction.[56] In 2013, a private landowner filed suit against the company and Chesapeake for bid rigging.[57] Justice Department and Michigan authorities were investigating whether state or federal laws were violated; the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also investigated.

While the case was dropped by the DOJ, Michigan's Attorney General followed up on the accusations, and Encana ended up with a fine of $5 million, and Chesapeake paid $25 million into a victim-compensation fund.[58]

Failed lawsuit by adjacent property owners to prevent drilling

In 2013, two property owners adjacent to a drilling unit filed suit against the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Encana for potential harm due to proximity. In October 2013, the judge of the Circuit Court of Ingham County issued an injunction against Encana starting to drill until an administrative hearing before DEQ's supervisor of wells had been completed, re part 12 of DEQ's rules for oil and gas operations.[59] In May 2014, the supervisor of wells found with Encana, that the petitioners did "not have standing", because they did not own land within the drilling unit and dismissed the case.[60]

Alleged excessive water use for hydraulic fracturing

In November 2013, Ecojustice, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Committee filed a lawsuit against Encana Corporation and the British Columbia's Oil and Gas Commission for excessive water use from lakes and rivers for its hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, "granted by repeated short-term water permits, a violation of the provincial water act".[61]

Criticism

Pipeline explosions

In Pouce Coupe British Columbia five explosions targeted Encana pipelines between October 2008 and January 2009; media reports indicate the pipeline may have been bombed by a disgruntled community member fearing the sour gas (containing hydrogen sulfide, which can be fatal if too much of it is inhaled) poses a danger to the community.[62]

Encana's hydraulic fracturing operations in the United States are portrayed in the 2010 documentary, Gasland, which alleges that hydraulic fracturing causes pollution of ground and surface water, air, and soil.[63]

Deep Panuke project

Issues were raised for the Deep Panuke project offshore of Nova Scotia, when it was proposed in 2006 as a smaller version with increased ocean discharges and when Encana asked for a "streamlined regulatory process" without public hearings.[64]

References
  1. "Our History". Ovintiv.
  2. "Ovintiv Inc. 2019 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  3. "Energy giant Encana to move HQ from Calgary to the U.S." October 31, 2019.
  4. "Encana reveals Denver will be its new headquarters after leaving Calgary". CBC News. November 7, 2019.
  5. Jones, Jeffrey; Haggett, Scott (May 11, 2008). "EnCana to split in two with oil at record highs". Reuters. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  6. Morgan, Geoffrey (November 1, 2018). "Doug Suttles transforms 'headquarter-less' Encana with $7.7-billion deal to buy Newfield". Financial Post.
  7. "Canadian Pacific Railway Limited History". International Directory of Company Histories. fundinguniverse.com.
  8. McClelland, Colin (October 31, 2019). "A storied history: Born out of fire and explosion, Encana's roots tied to Canadian Pacific Railway's western push in the 1880s". Financial Post.
  9. "CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY: 1923–65" (PDF). Dominion Bureau of Statistics.
  10. "Big Canadian miscible CO 2 EOR project, pipeline advance". Oil & Gas Journal. July 7, 1997.
  11. "Canadian Corporate Reports; Company Detail: PanCanadian Petroleum Limited". McGill University.
  12. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/nexen-buys-encana-unit/article1143338/
  13. "CNPC buys EnCana's Chad operations for $202.5 mln". Reuters. January 21, 2007.
  14. "CNPC International to buy EnCana's Chad holdings". Oil & Gas Journal. January 15, 2007.
  15. EBNER, DAVID (May 9, 2007). "MGM Energy buys into several EnCana assets". The Globe and Mail.
  16. "Pavillion, Wyoming Groundwater Investigation: January 2010 Sampling Results and Site Update" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. August 2010.
  17. Haggett, Scott (November 30, 2009). "EnCana wraps up spinoff of its oil business". Reuters.
  18. "EnCana proceeds with plan to split into two distinct and independent energy companies" (PDF) (Press release). Cenovus Energy. September 10, 2009.
  19. Parkinson, David (December 9, 2009). "Cenovus spinoff gives investors a choice".
  20. Lustgarten, Abrahm (November 29, 2011). "Company Backs out of $45 Million Deal to Buy Troubled Wyoming Gas Field". ProPublica.
  21. Joyce, Matt (December 22, 2011). "Encana closes sale on most Barnett assets". American City Business Journals.
  22. "Encana Completes Cutbank Ridge Deal with Mitsubishi". LNG World News. February 27, 2012.
  23. DE LA MERCED, MICHAEL J. (February 17, 2012). "Mitsubishi Buys 40% Stake in Encana Shale Gas Assets". The New York Times.
  24. "Encana closes C$920 million sale of Cutbank Ridge midstream assets" (Press release). Business Wire. February 9, 2012.
  25. Jones, Jeffrey (December 13, 2012). "Encana, PetroChina take $2.2 billion stab at joint venture". Reuters.
  26. "Encana, PetroChina form joint venture to develop natural gas in Alberta". Financial Post. December 13, 2012.
  27. "Encana laying off 20% of workers". CBC News. November 5, 2013.
  28. "The Bow tower officially opens in Calgary". CBC News. June 4, 2013.
  29. Parkinson, David (February 9, 2007). "H&R REIT to develop EnCana's new headquarters". Globe and Mail.
  30. Dawson, Chester; McKinnon, Judy (November 5, 2013). "Encana to Cut Dividend, Jobs in Reorganization". The Wall Street Journal.
  31. "Encana Reaches Agreement to Sell Bighorn Assets to Jupiter Resources for Approximately US$1.8 Billion" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. June 27, 2014.
  32. "Encana completes acquisition of Athlon Energy". Oil & Gas Journal. November 13, 2014.
  33. "Jonah Energy Completes Acquisition of the Jonah Field Operations in Wyoming from Encana" (Press release). Business Wire. May 12, 2014.
  34. "Encana Completes $3.1 Billion Eagle Ford Acquisition" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. June 20, 2014.
  35. Graeber, Daniel J. (August 25, 2015). "Encana Corp. leaves Louisiana shale". United Press International.
  36. Pinto, Anet Josline (December 14, 2015). "Canada's Encana slashes dividend, cuts capex". Reuters.
  37. SVALDI, ALDO (July 29, 2016). "Encana Corp. completes sale of Denver-Julesburg Basin assets". The Denver Post.
  38. McKinnon, Judy (October 8, 2015). "Encana to Sell Colorado Oil and Gas Assets for $900 Million". The Wall Street Journal.
  39. "Encana announces agreement to sell its Piceance natural gas assets" (Press release). Globe Newswire. June 9, 2017.
  40. "BRIEF-Encana to sell its Piceance natural gas assets for $735 mln". Reuters. June 9, 2017.
  41. "Encana Corporation – Abandonment of Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development". National Energy Board.
  42. "Canada: Deep Panuke Offshore Platform Removed from Field". Offshore Engineer. August 7, 2020.
  43. "DJR Energy Closes Acquisition of Encana's San Juan Basin Assets" (Press release). Business Wire. December 27, 2018.
  44. KOHLER, JUDITH (December 28, 2018). "Denver-based DJR Energy closes $480M purchase of assets in San Juan Basin". The Denver Post.
  45. "Encana completes acquisition of Newfield Exploration to create North America's premier resource company" (Press release). Globe Newswire. February 13, 2019.
  46. Pulsinelli, Olivia (February 14, 2019). "Encana closes multibillion-dollar acquisition of Woodlands co". American City Business Journals.
  47. "Encana to Establish Corporate Domicile in the U.S." PR Newswire. October 31, 2019.
  48. Balji, Divya; Orland, Kevin (January 23, 2020). "Encana, whose history in Canada dates back to 1800s, says farewell to the TSX today as it heads south". Financial Post. Bloomberg News.
  49. Dawson, Tyler (October 31, 2019). "As Encana becomes Ovintiv, the rebrand begs a question: What the hell is an Ovintiv?". Financial Post.
  50. "Encana completes reorganization and establishes corporate domicile in the U.S." (Press release). PR Newswire. January 24, 2020.
  51. Seskus, Tony (June 17, 2020). "Oil and gas company Ovintiv, formerly Encana, laying off workers across North America". CBC News.
  52. Nair, Shanti S.; Khan, Shariq (June 18, 2020). "Ovintiv lays off 25% of workforce after oil demand slumps". Reuters.
  53. Orland, Kevin (June 17, 2020). "Ovintiv cutting jobs in Calgary, Denver and Texas as drilling slows". Calgary Herald. Bloomberg News.
  54. Petzet, Alan (May 7, 2010). "Explorations: Michigan Collingwood-Utica gas play emerging". Oil & Gas Journal.
  55. Carroll, Joe (June 27, 2012). "Encana Expands in Michigan Shale Chesapeake Is Abandoning". Financial Post. Bloomberg News.
  56. Grow, Brian; Schneyer, Joshua; Roberts, Janet (June 25, 2012). "Special Report: Chesapeake and rival plotted to suppress land prices". Reuters.
  57. Grow, Brian; Schneyer, Joshua (February 25, 2013). "Chesapeake, Encana sued in civil antitrust action". Reuters.
  58. "Minimizing Antitrust Risks in Joint Ventures, Joint Bidding, and AMIs: A Review of Recent Enforcement Activities". Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal. 2 (5): 536. January 2017.
  59. Smith, Lee (February 8, 2014). "Michigan's fracking: Actors and issues". Midland Daily News.
  60. "Supervisor of Wells Orders". Department of Environmental Quality. Michigan.
  61. Moore, Dene (November 13, 2013). "Fracking Lawsuit Targets EnCana, B.C. Oil And Gas Commission". HuffPost. The Canadian Press.
  62. "Latest EnCana pipeline explosion was deliberate: RCMP". CBC News. July 2, 2009.
  63. Mosier, Jeff (February 3, 2017). "Wise County couple that sued Plano gas company may lose their $2.9M judgment". The Dallas Morning News.
  64. "EnCana unveils smaller Deep Panuke project". CBC News. August 29, 2006.
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