The Largest Independent Producer

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With Morgan as trail boss, a seasoned crew of Alberta hands, and a record of success, EnCana joined a growing band of Canadian energy companies­ –- Petro-Canada, Talisman, Suncor, Nexen, Canadian Natural Resources, Enbridge, Atco, and others — that rank among the world's leading energy producers.

In 2004, EnCana dramatically shifted gears to focus on North American natural gas production, spending billions to acquire U.S. properties and sell­ing billions of its international properties. Early in the year it paid US$3.6 billion to acquire Tom Brown, Inc., with major gas resources in the U.S. Rocky Mountain region, and by year-end had received about the same amount from the sale of properties in the North Sea, Ecuador, and the deep­water area of the Gulf of Mexico. With its highly efficient and rewarding "gas manufacturing" techniques and long-life producing properties, "it became evident to us that our need for international growth was what we'd call optional," Morgan commented.

NOTES:

1. Richard Anco, Railways to resources: the Evolution of PanCanadian Petroleum (Calgary, 1996).
2. Gordon Jaremko (ed.), Alberta Energy Company: Celebrating 25 Years of Growth (Calgary: Alberta Energy Company, 2000).

From The Great Canadian Oil Patch, pgs. 481 to 487, reprinted with kind permission of JuneWarren Publishing and Mr. Earle Gray