EnCana's geographic focus is North America, which has among the highest known concentrations of unconventional natural gas and oilsands resources in the world. Compared to conventional plays, these long-life reservoirs typically have lower than average long-term decline rates and lower geological and commercial development risk. EnCana's people have the skills, expertise and technology to maximize the value from its 25 million net acres of North American onshore lands, 15 million of which are undeveloped.

EnCana's geological focus is on resource plays. These are large continuous accumulations of hydrocarbons that are capable of delivering profitable production for decades through the application of advanced technology and large manufacturing-like development programs that capture economies of scale. The diagram below compares the potential of a conventional gas reservoir to that of an unconventional reservoir. Original assessment of recoverable reserves from conventional reservoirs typically identifies the majority of the resource in place, with very limited upside potential. These reservoirs are typically produced over a five-to 10-year lifespan.

On the other hand, original assessments of unconventional gas reservoirs often show only a small percentage of what is ultimately recoverable. Unconventional development involves drilling numerous wells in a repeatable manner that captures economies of scale. These reservoirs are produced over 30 years or more. As a result, the company can take advantage of operational efficiencies and new technologies, developed over time, to reduce costs and increase recoveries. For example, at EnCana's Jonah resource play in Wyoming, the original estimate of gas in place, completed in 2000, was about 200 billion cubic feet per square mile. Five years later, improvements in technology and recovery methods have increased the estimate of gas in place to be between 350 to 400 billion cubic feet per square mile, almost double the original estimate. With this and similar experiences in its suite of resource plays, EnCana has confidence that it will be able to grow reserves, production and the net asset value of every share.

The large contiguous nature of unconventional plays allows EnCana to apply scale and technologies that increase recoveries and drive down costs over time.