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The closing of a US$900-million Colorado oil and gas asset sale is being delayed by up to six months, Calgary-based Encana Corp. said Tuesday, without saying why.

The Calgary-based major producer’s shares fell five per cent or 36 cents to a new all-time low level of $6.52 after it said the deal announced in October to sell liquids-rich production and 20,000 hectares of DJ Basin assets is now expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.

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The sale to to Crestone Peak Resources, a new company 95 per cent owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and five per cent by The Broe Group of Denver, was originally to close before the end of this year.

Encana said the effective sale date of last April 1 and material terms of the deal, including price, remain the same. It said Crestone has increased the size of its deposit without giving any detail.

At Tuesday’s exchange rate, the purchase price is about Cdn$1.25 billion. The day it was announced, it would have translated to Cdn$1.16 billion.