Doug Suttles, president and CEO of Encana, is seen in this file photo.Jeff McIntosh
Encana Corp.'s chief executive officer is relocating to the United States, though the energy company says there are no current plans to move its headquarters or other senior executives from Calgary.
Doug Suttles, who signed on as CEO in 2013, announced to staff on Thursday he is moving to Denver, where the company has a large office.
Mr. Suttles, a Texan by birth, said the relocation is for personal reasons, without providing details. Calgary and Denver are about 2-1/2 hours apart by commercial flight.
There has been frequent speculation in Calgary about Encana relocating its head office to the United States as the company has concentrated more of its capital spending on oil plays in the Permian and Eagle Ford regions of Texas.
"The answer to that is, absolutely not," Encana spokesman Simon Scott said. "We're a Canadian company, we're headquartered in Calgary. This decision doesn't change that in any way."
As head of a company with operations in Canada and the United States, Mr. Suttles already splits his time between both countries and employees will likely notice no difference, Mr. Scott said.
Last year, Encana signed a lease to remain in the 56-story Republic Plaza tower, a property co-owned by Brookfield Property Partners in downtown Denver. There are currently about 800 employees located there.
Its main office is the Bow Tower in Calgary, where the company has been based since the building was completed in 2012.
Since becoming CEO of Encana, Mr. Suttles has taken the former natural gas-focused company in a direction that has included selling off numerous properties and shedding staff. Besides the U.S. assets, Encana has two major areas of focus in Canada - the Montney and Duvernay plays.
Jeffrey Jones