EnCana's oil-focused spinoff company will apply for regulatory approval in mid-2010 to build a new oilsands project at Narrows Lake, Alta., the company announced Thursday.

Cenovus Energy Inc.'s new project would produce between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels of oil a day. The project will be close to its Christina Lake property.

The new project will be near EnCana's existing Christina Lake project. (EnCana Corp.)

EnCana also announced Cenovus will begin putting its natural gas assets on sale within the next year.

We've got teams working on that and they will put up packages in the next year or so," John Brannan, president of EnCana's Integrated Oil Division said during an investor webcast Thursday.

EnCana announced earlier in September that its spinoff oil company —Cenovus Energy — planned to sell off $500 million annually of older gas wells and focus attention on increasing oilsands production.

The Calgary-based company first announced it would split into two independent companies — one focused on natural gas and the other on oil — in May 2008 but shelved the plan as the economy crashed.

The company's board decided that capital markets had rebounded enough and announced on Sept. 10 that it was resurrecting the idea. The gas company will be called EnCana GasCo.

EnCana shares closed down $1.88, or three per cent, at $60.12 on the TSX.