Encana to cut CapEx, Production, Jobs

Canada's Encana Corp cut its capital budget and production target for 2016 and said it would slash more jobs as the company struggles to cope with a steep fall in oil prices.

Encana lowered the upper end of its production target for this year to 360,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 370,000 boepd, maintaining the lower end at 340,000 boepd.

The oil and natural gas producer also slashed its capital spending target to $900 million-$1 billion from $1.5 billion-$1.7 billion it forecast earlier.

Encana, which cut 200 jobs in July last year, said on Wednesday it would lay off 20 percent of its workforce this year.

The company reported a net loss of $612 million attributable to common shareholders for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. Encana had a profit of $198 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Excluding items, the company reported an operating profit of 13 cents per share, handily beating the analyst average estimate of 1 cent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Reporting by Anet Josline Pinto