An EnCana pump jack stands near Rockyford, Alberta, in this June 30, 2009 file photo. Canada's largest natural gas producer, said on November 5, 2013 it will cut about 20 percent of its workforce,

The largest natural gas production company of Canada, Encana, declared that it would cut around 20 per cent of the workforce of the company. It has also confirmed that it would slash the dividend while investing about 75 per cent of the 2014 capital on liquid gas and oil assets which are more lucrative.

The latest strategy to reduce the number of employees is a part of the new Chief Executive Doug Suttles' initiative to boost income while the company has to suffer due to the weak prices of natural gas for many years in the coming future. On Dec 31, the number of Encana employees was 4,193. The company said that it would reduce the dividend from 20 cents to 7 cents per share, Reuters reports.

The company is in the process of recovering a number of wrong decisions in the past. It declared that around $2.5 billion will be spent in 2014. The amount is less as the company has been expected to have spent about $2.9 billion in 2013. It has also announced that it will sell some of its assets while spinning off its royalty of natural gas and oil in the Clearwater field in southern Alberta by the middle of 2014.

On the other hand, Encana has further confirmed that it will continue to retain a major stake in the new company to manage the leasing activities. It will target achieving more out of an undervalued business while generating higher amount of cash flow in the longer run. The company already gave a hint in August that it was in the process of considering selling assets on dry natural gas.

Doug Suttles, the CEO of the company, issued a statement which said that the company had to make a few decisions which were "exceptionally difficult" to consider. However, they had to make to for aligning the company with its new strategy. The restructuring of the company is underway and it shows its shift to focusing its resources on 5 key areas while shying away from funding around 30 different plays.