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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery lost $1.84 to $44.48 on the New York Merc, while Brent for November lost $1.58 to $46.07 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.35 to WTI ($30.13), unchanged. Natural gas for October lost three cents to $2.96. The TSX energy index lost 3.19 points to close at 189.18.

EnCana Corp. (ECA) lost 46 cents to $11.99 on 12 million shares, after closing its $1-billion (U.S.) public offering of 107 million shares at $9.35 (U.S.). This will boost its share count to about 957 million. The offering, announced on Tuesday, attracted attention for several reasons, such as the low underwriting fee (less than half of the typical fee of 4 per cent, according to The Globe and Mail) and the fact that EnCana plans to use more than half of the proceeds for drilling. It will focus specifically on the West Texas Permian basin. This became a core area two years ago, when EnCana acquired Athlon Energy Inc. for $7.1-billion (U.S.). Athlon was producing about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day at the time. EnCana has since boosted production to around 50,000 barrels a day and says it has reduced well costs to as little as $4.3-million (U.S.) from the 2015 average of $7.1-million (U.S.), making it a "basin-leading operator." Its Permian program this year calls for 60 to 70 net horizontal wells to be brought on stream, along with 20 to 25 net vertical wells. EnCana plans to use the proceeds from its $1-billion (U.S.) offering to double the year-over-year number of wells brought on stream.

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