EnCana has reportedly filed a request with the U.S. Minerals Management Service to have 19 outer continental shelf leases in the Beaufort assigned to Shell.
Calgary-based EnCana, which first entered Alaska in 2000 as Alberta Energy, has been dumping many of its conventional oil and gas assets worldwide, choosing instead to focus on North America resource (unconventional) gas plays and Alberta oil sands. Its Alaska assets were some of the last to be put on the market, with EnCana dropping its leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in October 2004 and announcing its decision to sell its Beaufort Sea and Brooks Range Foothills assets in December 2004.
In mid-2005 EnCana sold its one-third interest in a Brooks Range Foothills joint venture involving approximately 1.5 million acres to partners Anadarko Petroleum and Petro-Canada.
The 24 Beaufort tracts encompassed some 52,265 acres.