It’s not likely that other major Canadian energy companies will follow Encana Corp.’s footsteps to re-domicile in the United States, according to the chief executive of Vermilion Energy Inc.  

“I cannot really think of [another] significant Canadian company that I would expect to re-domicile,” Anthony Marino told BNN Bloomberg in an interview Thursday after Encana Corp. said it would legally move its home base south of the border and change its name to Ovintiv Inc. in the process.

“I think Encana was sort of the most obvious of the possibilities.”

Marino said for his oil and gas company in particular, there’s no significant long-term advantage from a tax or investor perspective to re-domicile.

“Our roots are in Canada, we are already set up with a very efficient head office operation,” he said. “There’s no reason to make the shift.”

Marino noted that 60 per cent of his Calgary-based company’s production is in North America with a “big, big majority” of that being in Canada.

Encana CEO Doug Suttles said exposing his company to “increasingly larger pools of investment in U.S. index funds and passively managed accounts” is one of the advantages in re-domiciling –  but that it’s not making the move for political reasons.

He stressed his commitment to Canada and that the business has been successful in the country.    

“We did want to make sure that people don’t see this as some negative reflection on Canada,” Suttles told BNN Bloomberg. “We’re proud of our heritage, we’re proud of our presence here, and we have every intent on continuing to invest in this country.”

Marino echoed Suttles’ sentiment about having a presence in Canada.

“I think it’s just incumbent on us, and the rest of the industry, to make investors aware that Canada does offer some significant advantages in profitability,” he said.  “And I don’t think re-domiciling to the United States is required to get that message out.”