Canada’s Encana Corp., a major oil and gas operator in Oklahoma announced it is moving its headquarters from Calgary to Denver, Colorado. The company also will change its name to Ovintiv Inc. next year.
The decision comes as other majors including ConocoPhillips have been selling Canadian assets and cut back on investments in the country.
“Sadly, I cannot say I am surprised, as Encana has been shifting its efforts to the U.S. for years, in large part due to harmful policies in Canada,” Sonya Savage, Alberta’s energy minister said in a statement.
Encana was once one of Canada’s largest oil companies. Earlier this year, it bought Texas-based Newfield Exploration Co. in a $5.5 billion acquisition. As a result, U.S. operations accounted for more than 60 percent of Encana’s total revenue in the third quarter. Canada only contributed about 25 percent.
Chief Executive Officer Doug Suttles, who relocated from Encana’s Calgary headquarters to its Denver office last year, said the move will help the company to tap in to the deeper capital markets in the United States but added it was not a political decision.
Suttles also gave assurances that Encana will continue investing in its assets in Canada. But CEOs of other oil and gas companies lamented the decision.
“I think this is a tragedy for Canada,” Cenovus Energy CEO Alex Pourbaix told a post-earnings analyst conference.