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Encana is only the latest example of the exodus of capital since 2015. Initially it was primarily large international companies. In 2016–17, seven international energy companies, including Statoil (Norway), Total (France), Shell (Netherlands-U.K.), Conoco Phillips (U.S.) and Marathon (U.S.),dumped all or most of their Western Canadian assets — over $37 billion in sales.

More recently, it has been Canadian energy companies shifting their focus and their capital to the tax-and-regulation friendlier U.S. Encana has led the way, but the list of followers is growing. Enerplus has made significant investments in the Bakken and the Marcellus plays, and most recently in the Denver basin. Crescent Point is now spending more on its Uintah and Bakken properties than in Canada, and Baytex is doing the same in the Eagle Ford in Texas.

Predictably, Canadian energy-service companies are following the money to the U.S. If Calgary-based Precision Drilling succeeds with its proposed takeover of Trinidad Drilling, it will have more rigs in the U.S. than in Canada. That has the oilpatch wondering whether Precision’s CEO might also be consider moving himself to Houston. This past January, Calgary’s Akita Drilling explained the benefits of its $209-million merger with U.S.-focused Xtreme Drilling as providing “immediate scale in the U.S. market, building upon (Akita’s) recent strategic expansion into the Permian.” Last year, Total Energy Services acquired Savanna Energy Services to give it more exposure to U.S. and Australian markets. Other Calgary-based service companies that are expanding their U.S. investments include Calfrac, Ensign Energy, Ideal and Phoenix.