Calgary-based EnCana Corp. said the integrated oil company that it will create as part of its split into two independent energy companies will be called Cenovus Energy Inc., while the natural gas company will continue as EnCana Corp.

“The name Cenovus successfully captures the essence of what we want our North American integrated oil company to be,” said Brian Ferguson, EnCana’s CFO and the CEO-to-be of Cenovus. The root word origins of the company’s name represent new and innovative ways of doing business, Ferguson said.

EnCana announced in May that it would split into two separate companies — one a pure play in unconventional natural gas and the other an integrated oil company with some existing southern Alberta shallow gas (see Daily GPI, May 13). The corporate reorganization, subject to shareholder and court approval, is expected to be completed early in 2009, the company said. Under Canada’s Business Corporations Act, the proposed reorganization will be pursued with a court-approved Plan of Arrangement, and it is subject to approvals from both Canadian and U.S. tax authorities. EnCana shareholders will be given one share in each new company for each of their existing shares.

The change was characterized by EnCana as having “minimal impact” on its employees, operations, suppliers, business partners and stakeholders. In total, there will be added workforce because separate administrative structures, with separate boards, will be created for each new company. Currently EnCana has 6,500 employees, 500 of which are at its Calgary headquarters, and it is estimated that an additional 500 jobs will be created collectively for the two new companies’ head offices, both of which will remain in EnCana’s current headquarters building.

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