A yellow Encana natural gas pipeline marker is seen along a road on state forest park land in Kalkaska, Mich.REBECCA COOK/Reuters
A senior Encana Corp. executive in charge of a major U.S. natural gas field resigned as a report surfaced that the company was in talks to sell the property, though a spokesman said there was no connection.
Julia Gwaltney, who was vice-president of Western Operations in Encana's U.S. business, announced she was leaving the company a week ago, said Doug Hock, Denver-based spokesman.
On March 16, the Wall Street Journal reported that Encana was in talks to sell its Jonah gas field in Wyoming to Carlyle Group and NGP Energy Capital Management LLC for about $2-billion (U.S.) Encana did not confirm a sale was at hand.
"We learned that she was leaving last week," Mr. Hock said. He stressed that the departure was not linked to any sale.
In her previous capacity Ms. Gwaltney was in charge of the company's operations in Wyoming and Colorado, and Jonah was "part of her portfolio," he said.
Jonah is one of the largest gas fields in the United States. In 2013, it produced 323 million cubic feet of gas and 4,700 barrels of gas liquids a day after royalties, according to Encana. Production declined there for the past year, however, as Canada's largest gas producer redirected spending from such operations to its more lucrative liquids-rich holdings as part of a sweeping realignment.
Mr. Hock declined to say if a deal to divest the asset was close.
"When we get to a point where we have something to announce we will issue a press release, but we have talks with various parties about various properties all the time," he said.
Officials with Carlyle and NGP were not immediately available for comment.
Jeffrey Jones