Company strengthens its position in Canada’s top shale plays while finalizing Uinta sale and planning Mid-Con divestiture.
Ovintiv Inc. recently agreed to acquire NuVista Energy’s Montney assets, adding high-performing wells and premium undeveloped acreage to its Canadian portfolio. TGS Well Data Analytics shows that NuVista wells outperform Ovintiv’s existing Montney inventory in early-time production, lateral efficiency, and completion intensity, underscoring the near-term upside of the acquisition. Over the past decade, Ovintiv has trended toward approximately 25% longer laterals, while NuVista has extended laterals by about 65%. This shift has been accompanied by declining productivity per foot, down roughly 40% for Ovintiv and 60% for NuVista highlighting the broader industry challenge of balancing lateral length with per-foot efficiency.
Let’s review Ovintiv’s recent strategic moves. The company continues to reshape its North American asset base, focusing on premium shale plays while divesting non-core holdings to enhance returns and operational efficiency. In November 2024, Ovintiv signed a definitive agreement to acquire select Montney assets from Paramount Resources Ltd., including the Karr, Wapiti, and Zama properties in Alberta and the Horn River Basin assets in British Columbia, in an all-cash transaction. As part of the deal, Ovintiv exchanged its Horn River field in British Columbia for Paramount’s Zama field in Alberta. The acquisition closed in January 2025, consolidating Ovintiv’s position in one of North America’s most prolific resource plays.
In parallel, Ovintiv finalized the sale of nearly all its Uinta Basin assets in Utah to FourPoint Resources, LLC, as part of its strategy to divest non-core assets and concentrate investment in high-return basins.
These moves complement Ovintiv’s previously announced agreement to acquire NuVista Energy Ltd., which significantly strengthens the company’s Montney position. Roughly 70% of the acquired NuVista acreage remains undeveloped, offering growth optionality while integrating seamlessly with Ovintiv’s existing infrastructure (Figure 1).
Figure 1. TGS Well Data Analytics dashboard displaying Ovintiv and NuVista Energy Canada assets, overlaying with existing pipeline data sourced by MAPSearch™.
Using TGS Well Data Analytics, we compared adjacent Ovintiv and NuVista wells using type-curve analysis, completion trends, and productivity-to-lateral-length relationships (Figure 2). Operator-normalized type curves show that NuVista wells achieve higher early-time production relative to Ovintiv, indicating stronger reservoir contact and effective stimulation designs. Examining historical lateral-length development reveals a clear trend toward extended-reach laterals over time, with NuVista consistently deploying longer horizontals across the play.
When correlating lateral length with BOE IP90, the data shows that while longer laterals generally produce higher total IP90 and EUR, performance on a per-foot basis can be lower. Nevertheless, NuVista wells cluster at the upper end of both total and normalized productivity distributions, reflecting optimized completion intensity and efficient reservoir drainage. These observations reinforce the strategic rationale for the acquisition, demonstrating that NuVista’s development approach delivers materially higher productivity, and highlighting the opportunity for Ovintiv to capture similar performance gains by adopting these design principles across its Montney program.
Figure 2. Ovintiv vs. NuVista Energy type curves and lateral length–production trends over time from TGS Well Data Analytics.
Alongside these Montney-focused acquisitions, Ovintiv has also strengthened its Permian Basin position through bolt-on acquisitions. Meanwhile, the planned sale of Mid-Continent (Mid-Con) assets, primarily in the Anadarko Basin (Figure 3), completes Ovintiv’s transformation into a focused two-basin producer centered on the Montney and Permian plays.
Figure 3. Dashboard from TGS Well Data Analytics highlighting Ovintiv assets across the Permian and Anadarko basins.
Ovintiv’s expanding footprint in high-value regions, combined with disciplined divestitures like Uinta and Mid-Con, reflects a strategic pivot toward premium-return, long-life inventory. TGS Well Data Analytics enables operators to benchmark well performance, forecast production trends, and identify high-return opportunities across Canada’s leading unconventional plays, providing actionable insights that directly inform development strategy.
Key Takeaway: Data from TGS Well Data Analytics confirms that NuVista wells consistently outperform Ovintiv’s existing Montney assets in early production and lateral efficiency. Integrating NuVista’s completion designs and development strategies offers Ovintiv a clear pathway to boost productivity and optimize returns across its Canadian shale portfolio.
For more information about TGS Well Data Analytics or to schedule a demo, please contact us at WDPSales@tgs.com.
