Encana says 2016 costs down by $50 million

By Nia Williams

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Encana Corp said on Wednesday it has made $50 million in cost savings in 2016, continuing a trend of Canadian oil and gas producers squeezing spending in response to the prolonged downturn in global crude prices.

Calgary-based Encana updated its 2016 guidance to reflect savings in production and mineral taxes, and operating, processing and transportation costs. The company now expects to spend $1.1 billion-$1.2 billion this year, it said in a statement ahead of its investor day in New York.

Shares in Encana were last up 3 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange at C$14.31.

The update from Encana comes two weeks after fellow Canadian crude producer Imperial Oil said its 2016 sustaining capital had dropped 25 percent to C$900 million ($681.41 million) from a year earlier.

Both oil sands and conventional oil producers in Canada have been forced to cut costs aggressively in response to the two-year crude rout, in which prices have more than halved.

While much of savings came from squeezing suppliers into lowering their rates, a number of the major Canadian oil producers including Suncor Energy and Cenovus Energy have said they think a third of those savings will be sustainable even when oil prices recover.

(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Andrew Hay)