Written by StockNews.com

Encana Corp. (ECA), Canada's No. 2 oil and natural gas producer, reported a better-than-expected operating profit for the first quarter on Tuesday, helped by the rise in oil...prices...[which] began to rise late last year after a two-year slump and have now stabilized at above US$50 per barrel, as an OPEC-led production cut and rebounding demand slowly erode a global glut. Globally traded Brent crude prices jumped 55% in the January-March period.

Encana said it realized US$43.45 per barrel of oil and natural gas liquids production in the quarter ended March 31, compared with US$33.09 a year ago.

The company posted:

• a net profit of $431 million for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $379 million a year ago and
• an operating profit of 11 cents, beating analysts' average estimate of 3 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
• but production fell 17% to 317,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

[Going forward,] Encana said it expects to:

• grow oil and condensate production by more than 35% between the fourth quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2017 and to
• increase output from its core assets estimated by more than 20%.