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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery added $1.50 to $60.75 on the New York Merc, while Brent for June added $1.95 to $66.86 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $8.10 to WTI ($52.65), up from a discount of $8.40. Natural gas for June added 9.5 cents to $2.89. The TSX energy index lost a fraction to close at 223.82.

EnCana Corp. (ECA) lost 15 cents to $16.67 on 10.9 million shares, after releasing its first quarter financials. A $1.2-billion (U.S.) after-tax impairment charge contributed to a net loss for the quarter, but operating profit came to one cent a share, surpassing analysts' predictions of a loss of nine cents a share. EnCana also made progress in its goal to diversify its production beyond natural gas. Liquids production, including oil, was over 120,700 barrels a day, up significantly from 67,900 barrels a day a year earlier. (Total first quarter 2015 production, comprising gas and liquids, was 430,100 barrels of oil equivalent a day.) Since the start of 2014, EnCana has sold over $5.1-billion (U.S.) of primarily gassy assets and bought double that amount of liquids-weighted ones, mainly in the Permian basin and Eagle Ford shale of Texas. These two plays, as well as the Montney and the Duvernay in Canada, are receiving more than four-fifths of this year's $2.1-billion budget. The dealmaking is not done yet. Earlier this month, EnCana sold its Moneta Divide assets in Wyoming for an undisclosed amount, and it is apparently seeking buyers for its $1-billion (U.S.) Haynesville properties in Louisiana (as reported by Bloomberg in mid-April). The company did not discuss any planned asset sales in its first quarter update or conference call. It did talk up its improving costs and production rates, which provide a "high degree of confidence" that its four core plays will produce a total of 270,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the fourth quarter of this year, up sharply from 200,000 a year earlier. The ambitious prediction led one analyst to phone in and confirm that he had heard it correctly.

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