Encana announced this morning it would be moving the company’s headquarters to the United States from Calgary and changing its name.
The company will be rebranded as Ovintiv Inc, and the move is subject to approval from shareholders, stock exchange, and courts. The change is expected early in the new year.
“A domicile in the United States will expose our company to increasingly larger pools of investment in U.S. index funds and passively managed accounts, as well as better align us with our U.S. peers,” said Encana CEO Doug Suttles.
It was reported the change will not affect Canadian staffing or result in layoffs or divert investment strategies in oil and gas formations in Alberta and B.C.
“The change in corporate domicile will not change how we run our day-to-day activities. However, our actions show that we will leave no stone unturned to capture the value we deeply believe exists within our equity."
Encana had a long history in the Drumheller Valley, forming with the merger of PanCanadian Energy and Alberta Energy Company in 2002. It had a thriving established local office. In 2009, the company split to create Cenovus to focus on its oil holdings and Encana to develop its natural gas business.
In 2014, Encana sold much of its Clearwater assets to Ember Resources, while its office in Drumheller remained intact.
In December 2017 it sold its remaining local holdings to Lynx Energy, which now operates out of the Drumheller facility.