Calgary-based EnCana, the largest North American-based independent oil and gas company, has no plans to gather dust, setting a broad target to grow its natural gas production and storage capacity on the continent, expand its Gulf of Mexico holdings and search for new platforms for exploration expansion — and that’s not all.

Gwyn Morgan, EnCana’s CEO, calls it “value creation through profitable growth.” But whatever it’s called, EnCana is driven to be “the industry’s best-of-class benchmark,” Morgan said during a Lehman Brothers CEO Energy/Power Conference in New York City Wednesday. “We have an unparalleled land position” onshore in North America, he explained, where 90% of the reserves and production are located in the two highest growth regions: Western Canada and the U.S. Rockies.

However, with all of its reserve potential, Morgan is aware that other oil and gas companies are not faring as well as they were a year ago for various reasons. EnCana isn’t like the others, he said.

“Why do we think EnCana can grow profitably?” Morgan asked. “The industry is spending a high percentage of its cash flow to replace production. EnCana can offset its declines and target double-digit growth from internal cash flow because of high quality assets,” which offer lower decline rates, less exploited base assets, a “huge unrealized resource position,” fee-land advantage, growth portfolio, and large undeveloped discoveries.

To date, EnCana has the leading independent gas storage network in North America. With its focus spread across the entire continent, Morgan pointed to network spanning Western Canada, California, the Gulf Coast, the Mid-continent, the Rockies, the Midwest and the northeastern part of the United States, that offers a total storage capacity of 145 Bcf and withdrawal capacity of 2.7 Bcf/d.

Of its future potential, Morgan said that the Greater Sierra offers EnCana to chance to double its production by 2005. “There are 500 potential drilling locations,” he said, and EnCana has control of the infrastructure in the region. With 5 Tcf of resource potential, and “only 450 Bcf of proved gas reserves booked,” he said the company should have “multi-year growth past 2005.”

Also on a growth platform is the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where EnCana is an “emerging giant,” Morgan said. The company has acreage in more than 150 blocks, as well as options to add more than 180 blocks along the shelf edge of the Gulf between Houston and New Orleans. Deepwater foldbelt trends have been found in EnCana’s Ponza and Spa blocks, which Morgan said hold great potential.

The East Coast of Canada continues to be one of the company’s strong growth platforms as well, he said. With the largest gross land position in offshore Nova Scotia at 4.9 million acres, Morgan said the Panuke discovery holds a reserve potential of about 1 Tcf “unbooked.” EnCana plans to begin regulatory applications for startup in late 2005, he said.

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