Ovintiv faces test of staying power

The Canadian firm has rebranded and joined the US shale revolution. But the oil price crisis is raising doubts about whether recent acquisitions will be economically viable

Reinventing Canadian energy company Encana as Ovintiv has been a long battle for survival, CEO Doug Suttles tells Petroleum Economist. Encana became primarily a natural gas producer in November 2009, when it spun off its upstream oil and refining assets into a new company called Cenovus Energy, just as the US shale gas revolution was gaining momentum. Since taking over the formerly Calgary-based company in June 2013, Suttles has rebalanced its production portfolio primarily through a series of acquisitions and asset sales, streamlined company operations and re-domiciled its headquarters to Denver, Colorado under its new name to gain access to greater pools of capital in the US. “Ovinti