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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery lost $1.13 to $43.65 on the New York Merc, while Brent for July lost 86 cents to $44.97 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.58 to WTI ($30.07), down from a discount of $13.55. Natural gas for June added 4.4 cents to $2.086. The TSX energy index lost 4.57 points to close at 177.01.

EnCana Corp. (ECA) lost 97 cents to $8.33 on 14.9 million shares, disappointing investors with its first quarter financials, which were slightly worse than analysts had predicted. Although the company's production of 383,400 barrels of oil equivalent a day was in line with analysts' predictions of nearly 386,000 barrels a day, its cash flow of 12 U.S. cents a share was below predictions of 17 U.S. cents. EnCana played down the loss and played up its cost-cutting efforts, which it says are going better than expected. The company is "on track to meet or beat our 2016 cost-savings target of $550-million (U.S.)" said president and chief executive officer Doug Suttles during a conference call this morning. He said the company set up an "operating-cost-reduction task force" last December and its members thought up over 1,000 ideas. As a result, EnCana was able to lower its costs in all four of its core areas, namely the Permian and Eagle Ford plays in the United States and the Duvernay and the Montney plays in Canada. These four plays together make up three-quarters of EnCana's total production. Drilling and completion costs in each of the plays have gone down remarkably; for example, an Eagle Ford well cost an average of $6.3-million in 2015, but just $3.5-million in the first quarter of 2016. There are "more reductions to come," promised chief operating officer and executive vice-president Mike McAllister during the call. Mr. Suttles added that two-thirds of EnCana's cost cuts reflect improvements in execution (rather than, say, lower costs from squeezed service providers) and should therefore be maintained in a recovering oil price environment. "Some of this performance is incredible," he declared. Investors did not seem quite as delighted.

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