Encana ups its spending

Article Excerpt

ENCANA $12.49 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 956.9 million; Market cap: $12.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 0.6%; www.encana.com) focuses on four key projects: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta), and Eagle Ford and Permian (both in Texas). Those four fields produce large amounts of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) such as propane, butane and ethane. Encana plans to spend between $1.4 billion and $1.8 billion on exploration and other projects in 2017 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). That’s up from the roughly $1.15 billion it will probably spend this year. The company will apply most of the funds to expanding production at its four core properties. By 2021, they should supply 90% of its overall output. That’s up from the current 73%. Encana is a buy. buy…