By Jordan Blum – Houston Chronicle –Canada’s Encana Corp. bought The Woodlands-based Newfield Exploration earlier this year, and now Encana will sell some of its newly acquired acreage in Oklahoma located in the Arkoma Basin.
NOTE: Our best guess based on what information we have gleaned, that the buyer is Trinity Operating. ~GK
The company said it will sell 140,000 net acres in Oklahoma’s Arkoma Basin for $165 million to an undisclosed buyer and put those dollars toward debt reduction and a stock buyback program. At less than $5 per share, the company’s stock is at its lowest point since the last oil bust in 2016.
Encana closed on its $5.5 billion acquisition of Newfield in February and then announced nearly 300 Houston-area job cuts in March.
Encana is focused more on oil production in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin as well as the booming Permian Basin in West Texas, as opposed to the more natural gas-heavy acreage in the Arkoma Basin.
“This transaction shows our commitment to realize value from non-core assets. Proceeds from this sale will be directed to our balance sheet,” said Encana Chief Executive Doug Suttles.
Encana also announced it plans to buy back more than $200 million shares in July to continue its ongoing share buyback program to help boost the company’s struggling stock.
“We see compelling value in Encana shares today, and we intend to fulfill our commitment to return cash to shareholders,” Suttles added.
