EnCana shares surge in wake of plan to split firm

(In U.S. dollars unless noted)

CALGARY, Alberta, May 12 (Reuters) - EnCana Corp (ECA.TO) (ECA.N) shares surged 7 percent on Monday after Canada's biggest energy company said it planned to split into a natural gas company and an integrated oil sands producer to boost its value.

The stock jumped C$6.65, or 7.7 percent, to C$93.17 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In New York, it surged $6.62 to $92.55.

The Calgary-based company said on Sunday it will give its stockholders one share in each of the new firms for every share held in a plan of arrangement.

The aim was to boost the value of the parts by turning them into more focused and easily evaluated entities, it said.

UBS Securities analyst Andrew Potter estimated the company's value could now be C$110 a share, based on the sum of its parts.

The gas producer -- which will operate EnCana's unconventional gas holdings in Canada and the United States -- would be worth C$65 a share.

The oil firm, which will run the Alberta oil sands and U.S. refining joint venture with ConocoPhillips (COP.N) and the Canadian plains shallow gas business, could be worth C$45 a share, Potter wrote in a note to clients.

On Friday, EnCana had a stock market value of C$65 billion.