Encana Corporation was born on April
4, 2002 from the merger of Alberta Energy Company Ltd. and PanCanadian
Energy Corporation. Its headquarters are in Calgary, Canada and it has
holdings in Canada, the US, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea and Ecuador. The
merger created the largest North American independent oil and gas company
and one that ranks near the top globally with an enterprise value of US$18
billion in July of 2002. Former President and CEO of Alberta Energy, Gwyn
Morgan, is President and CEO of EnCana while PanCanadian’s President,
David Boone, has taken over the post of President of Offshore and International
Operations. EnCana trades on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges
as ECA.
EnCana’s Ecuador holdings come from the Alberta Energy side of the
merger. Alberta acquired the Ecuadorian fields of another Canadian independent,
Pacalta, in 1999. These included Block 27 in the far northeast of the
country near the Colombian border and Tarapoa block, located near and
partially in the Cuyabeno Reserve, east of Shushufindi. They also have
40% interest in Block 15 southeast of Shushufindi, controlled by Occidental
Petroleum of the USA. They are the largest shareholders in the OCP consortium
with 31.4% control and are the largest private oil producer in Ecuador.
Alberta increased Tarapoa production from 36,000bpd (barrels per day)
to 53,000bpd and when the OCP pipeline is ready in mid-2003, they will
raise production to 110,000bpd, 80,000bpd from Tarapoa and another 30,000
from Block 15. Some of this increase will result from exploration and
development within the boundaries of the Reserve.
EnCana has also inherited an NGO from Pacalta by way of Alberta Energy:
Ñanpaz Foundation. Created in 1999, Ñanpaz, or ‘path
of peace,’ operates from Quito and Tarapoa to promote local development
initiatives. They receive part of their funding from EnCana and funding
for specific projects from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)
by way of the Ecuadorian Canadian Fund for Development. Until very recently,
Ñanpaz has been criticized by locals and observers for improper
use of funds and general incompetence. They operate in Tarapoa from a
castle-like structure built with oil money and protected by the security
forces of EnCana. Here, they run a model integrated farm ostensibly as
a teaching device for locals. The problem is that the farm is so sophisticated
that the techniques developed here are beyond the scope of most of the
humble peasants for whom it was built. Alberta has recently restructured
Ñanpaz and given it the mandate of being independent of oil funding
in 10 years. Pat Trotier, the wife of EnCana President, Gwyn Morgan, is
the president of Ñanpaz.
© Dr. Leslie Jermyn and the
The Global Aware Cooperative
Contact cooperative@globalaware.org
