CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Canadian energy company Encana Corp. said Wednesday it will invest more than $1.75 billion in 2014 on developing U.S. and Canadian shale natural gas assets.
"Encana will focus three quarters of its planned $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion capital investment in 2014 on five oil and liquids-rich assets: the Montney, Duvernay, Denver-Julesburg basin, San Juan basin and the Tuscaloosa Marine shale," the company said Wednesday.
Encana said it will deploy as many as eight drilling rigs each to the Montney and Duvernay reserve areas in western Canada. As many as four rigs each would be used to exploit the reserves in the Denver-Julesburg basin in Colorado and the San Juan basin, spread out over New Mexico, Colorado, and parts of Arizona and Utah.
For the Tuscaloosa Marine shale, Encana said as many as three rigs would operate in the southern U.S. reserve area under its investment strategy for next year.
Encana, which has headquarters in Calgary, said it expects natural gas production next year to average approximately 2.7 billion cubic feet per day.
The company last month said it was cutting its work force by 20 percent and unloading some of its holdings in Alberta
