Energy giant EnCana set the record for the longest continuous concrete pour in Canada on the same day it announced a major restructuring. Workers pumped concrete into the foundation of the Bow, the skyscraper that will house the company’s headquaters, non-stop from Friday night to Sunday morning.
The pour, which involved 12 pumps and 1,400 truckloads of cement, laid close to 14,000 cubic metres of concrete into the six-storey-deep pit at Seventh Ave. and Centre St. SE.
While crews were finishing up the job on Sunday, May 11, EnCana announced it would split into two separate companies in 2009. One-half of the company will control EnCana’s natural gas division, with about two-thirds of the company’s assets. The other will handle oil operations with a view to more than quadrupling production in the oilsands. The gas company will likely keep the EnCana name, while the oil company has yet to be christened.
EnCana says the split is necessary so each company can focus on specific targets in its field. “We believe that if you can operate your business in the most straightforward and simple way as possible, you can be more efficient,” says spokesman Alan Boras.
EnCana itself was formed by a merger of two companies, Alberta Energy and PanCanadian, in 2002. The company is the largest energy company in Canada and has risen to become the country’s most profitable corporation, worth roughly $65 billion at the end of last year.
Market analyst Fred Ketchen says the new companies will likely be even more profitable, citing other corporations that have split, including Canadian Pacific, which fared better as a result. “Obviously, it’s better for the market, better for the shareholders,” says Ketchen, director of equity trading for ScotiaMcLeod.
The only concern is that one of the new companies could eventually be swallowed up by another corporation in a takeover bid.
The two new companies will be completely separate, but will share the Bow. When finished in 2011, the building will stand 58 floors tall, making it the largest office building west of Toronto. It is estimated to cost over $1 billion to build.
