Ovintiv Inc.’s top exploration executive is set to step down, according to a June 19 filing, as the oil and gas producer recently announced a 25% cut to its workforce.

David Hill
David G. Hill

The filing, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said David G. Hill will leave Ovinitv on June 30 at which time he will cease to serve as the Denver-based company’s executive vice president of land and exploration.

Hill has been with Ovintiv, formerly Encana, since November 2002, including previously serving as vice president of operations at Encana Natural Gas Inc. He had joined the company from TICORA Geosciences, which specialized in unconventional natural gas resources with core retrieval, core analysis and consulting services.

On June 18, Ovintiv said it laid off 25% of its total workforce this month. The company now has around 2,100 employees and contractors, according to a report from Reuters.

A company spokeswoman had earlier said the job cuts would be equally spread across its offices in Calgary, Denver and The Woodlands, Texas, the Reuters report said.

In January, Ovintiv completed a move of its headquarters from Calgary, Alberta, to Denver, a change that CEO Doug Suttles said would allow the company access to a deeper capital market. However, those plans have largely been derailed by an unprecedented oil market crash related to the COVID-19 pandemic and a brief price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Reuters reported Ovintiv’s shares have more than halved in value so far this year.

Ovintiv currently has a multi-basin portfolio comprising core growth assets in the Anadarko Basin, Permian Basin and Montney plays. Last year, the company expanded its position in U.S. shale, particularly in Oklahoma’s SCOOP and STACK plays, through a multibillion-dollar acquisition of The Woodlands, Texas-based Newfield Exploration.

In May, the company cut its second-quarter capex by 60%, or $500 million, and estimated to have about 65,000 boe/d of production shut in.

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