Ovintiv

As Encana (2002-2019)

In April 2002, Encana was formed by the merger of PanCanadian Petroleum with Alberta Energy Company.

In November 2009, the company completed the corporate spin-off of its oil business, Cenovus Energy.[4]

In December 2012, the company announced a US$2.1 billion joint venture with state-owned, Beijing-based PetroChina through which PetroChina received a 49.9% stake in Encana's Duvernay Formation acreage in Alberta.[5][6]

In 2013, the company moved its headquarters to The Bow in Calgary, a newly completed building which was the tallest building in Canada outside of Toronto.[7]

In May 2018, the company permanently ceased production at Deep Panuke. The Deep Panuke project produced and processed natural gas 250 kilometers offshore southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia.[8] The platform was sent for recycling in 2020.[9]

As Ovintiv (2020-present)

On January 24, 2020, after receiving shareholder approval, the company completed the transfer of its corporate domicile from Canada to the United States.[10][11] The shift came after the company's acquisition of Newfield Exploration, after which most of its production was in the United States, as opposed to Canada.

In June 2020, the company announced layoffs of 25% of its workforce.[12][13][14]

In February 2022, Ovintiv dissolved its subsidiary EWL Management Limited, which owned 5 decommissioned mines in Ontario, including three former uranium mines.[15][16]

Acquisitions and divestitures

Attempts to manipulate natural gas prices

In July 2003, the company agreed to pay $20 million to resolve allegations by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission that a subsidiary of the company reported false natural gas trading information, including price and volume information, to certain reporting firms in an attempt to skew indexes for its financial benefit.[41]

Alleged collusion and bid rigging with Chesapeake Energy

From 2008 through 2010, the company accumulated 250,000 net acres in the Collingwood-Utica Shale gas play in the Middle Ordovician Collingwood formation of the Michigan Basin at an average cost of $150/acre.[42] In May 2012, the company paid about $185 an acre for oil and gas rights on 2,156 acres (873 hectares) at an auction by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which was "88 percent less than the average paid two years ago in the area".[43]

E-mails between the company and Chesapeake Energy showed plans to divide up Michigan counties state land leases to suppress land prices in an October 2010 auction.[44] In 2013, a private landowner filed suit against the company and Chesapeake for bid rigging.[45]

While the case was dropped by the United States Department of Justice, the company was fined $5 million by the Michigan Attorney General, while Chesapeake paid $25 million into a victim-compensation fund.[46]

Water pollution in Wyoming

In spring 2008, after complaints from residents in Pavillion, Wyoming, the United States Environmental Protection Agency found hydrocarbon contaminants in residents' drinking water wells near gas production wells owned by the company.[47]

2008–09 British Columbia pipeline bombings

Between October 2008 and January 2009, in Pouce Coupe, British Columbia five Encana pipelines were bombed, likely by a disgruntled community member with a grudge against the company.[48] Encana was fined CAD $250,000 under Canada's Environmental Emergency Act after a pipeline rupture near Pouce Coupe released a cloud of gas that contained hydrogen sulfide.[49]

Pipeline leak

In September 2017, a subsidiary of the company was fined $225,000 for a pipeline leak that contaminated water and soil on a big game hunting ranch near Parachute, Colorado.[50]

Violations of Clean Air Act

In September 2024, Ovintiv paid the United States and the state of Utah a civil penalty of $5.5 million and agreed to implement extensive compliance measures to achieve major reductions in pollutants emitted from 139 of its facilities in Utah to resolve allegations that it failed to comply with federal and state requirements to capture and control air emissions at 22 of its oil and gas production facilities in the Uintah Basin.[51]

President

• 1) Gwyn Morgan, 5 April 2002 – 31 December 2005
• 2) Randall Kerry Eresman, 1 January 2006 – 11 January 2013
• 3) Clayton Harvey Woitas (interim), 11 January 2013 – 11 June 2013
• 4) Doug Suttles, 11 June 2013 – 10 September 2019
• 5) Michael Gerard McAllister, 10 September 2019 – 24 January 2020
• 6) Michael G. McAllister, January 24, 2020 – June 30, 2020
• 7) Brendan M. McCracken, December 1, 2020 – current

Chairman of the Board

• 1) David P. O'Brien, 5 April 2002 – 24 July 2013
• 2) Clayton Harvey Woitas, 24 July 2013– 24 January 2020
• 3) Clayton H. Woitas, January 24, 2020 – June 30, 2020
• 4) Peter A. Dea, June 30, 2020 – current