EnCana Approves Deep Panuke Development

According to Reuters Estimates, analysts had forecast share profit for the most recent quarter at $1.17, and the actual performance earned Encana a round of applause from investors. Its shares were up $1.60 (Canadian) or 2.5 per cent to $64.99 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, having climbed as high as $65.35. Revenue climbed to $5.59-billion (U.S.) from $4.03-billion in last year. Cash flow was up sharply, to $2.22-billion or $2.93 a share from $1.89-billion or $2.30, per share, as strong natural gas production growth — up 8 per cent to 3.63 billion cubic feet a day — and favourable gas price hedges offset weaker gas prices and the downstream segment of its integrated oil sands business turned in a solid performance, EnCana said. In fact, it said it slightly increased its guidance on gas production for the year, saying it now expects to achieve closer to 4 per cent growth rather than the 3 per cent it had been forecasting. “Our financial and operating performance is on track for 2007, which is evidence that our resource play model is working very well,” Randy Eresman, the company's president and chief executive officer, said in a news release. He also called the decision to move ahead on Deep Panuke as “an important milestone.” .... EnCana published its results just a few hours after Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach gave a speech in which he appeared to pull back from an independent panel's recent recommendations that the province boost royalties and other levies it charges energy producers by about 20 per cent. Many companies have threatened to cut back their spending in Alberta if the government adopts the recommendations holus bolus, with EnCana saying it would slash $1-billion from the $3-billion it plans to spend next year and warning of widespread economic damage, including “extensive” job losses. .... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071025.wencana1025/BNStory/energy/

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