I an Dundas became president and chief executive of Enerplus Corp. on July 1 of this year, tasked with continuing the Calgary company's momentum of successfully developing resource plays in the U.S. and Canada.

He joined Enerplus in 2002 as vice president of business development, responsible for acquisitions and divestments, something the company has made a mainstay of its corporate strategy. He was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2011.

As he takes the helm at Enerplus, Dundas faces the challenge of bringing the company to its full potential while continuing the transition to a more focused, profitable business and earning investors' trust. Last year, in order to maintain its financial strength, Enerplus cut its dividend in half amid low natural gas prices. However, it increased funds flow by 12% over 2011 by growing production, particularly crude oil production, as a result of its successful drilling program at Fort Berthold in North Dakota. The company replaced more than 190% of production in 2012, following 175% organic reserve replacement in 2011.

For two years, the Calgary independent has been changing its stripes. In January 2011, Enerplus completed its conversion from a trust model to a corporation (as did a number of other Canadian E&P trusts), when Canadian tax laws were changed. But according to Dundas, the larger question was, and still is, making sure the company has a more profitable and sustainable business model going forward.

In the first half of 2013, the company sold about $115 million of its noncore assets, net of acquisitions, yet it has maintained its production guidance at the higher end of its original range of 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, for the year.

Investor This has been an extraordinary time for Enerplus.

Dundas Clearly we've been in a transitional period for some time. My appointment was part of our normal plan for succession. A lot has happened since the March announcement: We've been through one quarter, a strategic planning session, and we just had our investor day in late June.

Investor What happens now to get Enerplus to the next level?

Dundas In our mind, we've got to build on the success we've had in the past two years. It started with a heightened level of operational focus. We've done a lot with that in mind. Since 2009, we've spent $3 billion acquiring and developing assets in the Bakken/Three Forks, the Marcellus, the Montney and the Duvernay; and we've sold about $2 billion of non-core oil sands and conventional oil and gas assets, so we have made quite a transition in the portfolio.

In 2009, our top 10 properties were 50% of our focus. Now, the top 10 are 80% of our reserve values and production. We've come a long way, and will continue on that path.

There's also been a significant improvement in our staff over the past three years. Adding resource plays with earlier-stage growth potential into the equation needs a robust suite of technical skills.

Investor What is your immediate focus since becoming chief executive?

Dundas It's critical that we continue to demonstrate financial discipline and keep doing what we say we are going to do. We are at the point where we don't need to sell more assets, and we've maintained our financial strength through this choppy market.

Now, it's really about continuing our operating momentum and hitting our numbers. We're seeing growth in funds flow and production, with good capital discipline. There's also a significant focus on building our operational strength.

Investor Has the market gotten the message?

Dundas We feel the market's starting to notice a little; we are off our lows. We do feel we are still undervalued and that the market hasn't fully embraced the transition. It takes time.

Investor After all the buying and selling, what does Enerplus look like now?

Dundas The U.S. represents about 40% of our production now, with our assets in the Bakken and Marcellus. In Canada, we have our water-flood projects, which are free-cash-flow positive, with some lower-risk growth ahead. And, we have our position in the Duvernay and Montney resource plays, and a Wilrich resource play in the Alberta Deep Basin where we have 55,000 net acres. It's a stacked Mannville-Cretaceous package and a pretty exciting area for us.

Investor What kind of potential are you seeing at Wilrich?

Dundas We have drilled five wells there now and we're talking about being in the 5- to 6-Bcfe-per-well range. To date, we're tracking the type curve, and two of the wells tested at over 30 million cubic feet of gas per day. Currently we have contingent resources pointing to just under 300 Bcfe.

Toward the back end of this year and into next year we'll start development with one rig at first.

Investor How do the economics stack up there?

Dundas The economics are attractive: We are targeting a $7-million well cost and our type curve is around 7 million cubic feet of natural gas a day in the first month. Some of the better wells have produced 17- or 18 million cubic feet a day over the first month. It's overpressured, with not a lot of liquids.

Investor But this is natural gas, a commodity under a lot of pressure right now.

Dundas Yes, but we believe there's a future for natural gas, although it's a bit uncertain at the moment. We are taking a very measured approach to our spending on natural gas plays. Our focus is on the Tier 1 Marcellus, and the Wilrich compares very favorably to that.

Our price view is that we'll see the price improving modestly, with the price at AECO-C hub [the Alberta hub] hitting $4 in the next year or two, and Nymex hitting $5 over the next year or two. It's better than it was. In that context, we will continue to fund our oil projects, but our best gas projects can compete as well.

Investor As for your oil assets, what's ahead in your Bakken acreage?

Dundas We've been in the Bakken since 2005 when we acquired Lyco Energy, so we were one of the first companies there. We started drilling aggressively in North Dakota in 2011. In the past two years we've taken our corporate liquids production from 40% of total production to just over 50%, and the Bakken has been a big part of that growth.

We're running two rigs, with most wells operated, and a bit of nonoperated wells. We've worked through our land expiry issues, so we don't have that to deal with this year. In 2011-2012, we thought the costs were getting out of hand, so we dropped our two least efficient rigs.

We are still testing in the Three Forks and testing downspacing, so two rigs work well for our objectives.

Investor Which of your assets will create the most excitement in the near term?

Dundas I think the market will be most excited if Enerplus continues to improve its sustainability. It's not about a massive exploration well, but it is about hitting our numbers and showing production growth while keeping our costs down.

In our earlier-stage plays, we think the Wilrich play is exciting. We still have some appraisal activity in the Duvernay and Montney that could be impactful as well. We have a significant position in the Duvernay, but we're still assessing the liquids content. We think it could rival the Eagle Ford, but the question is, in what places, and in how many places?

Investor How do you compare unconventional development in Canada vs. the U.S.?

Dundas The pace of development in the Eagle Ford and Marcellus was so rapid, but that was driven by a lot of land issues, which we don't have to the same extent in Canada. Our pace will be more measured.

In Canada, there's a very attractive land tenure system that encourages investment. In the Montney, we need to drill one horizontal well and that gives us an extension on our land. In the Duvernay, we have four-year licenses, and they turn into five-year leases as you drill to depth, effectively giving you nine years. But you're still incented to go quickly, as you have capital sunk into these plays. You do have more time to manage the risks. And there are tax credits on royalties to incent you when prices are low. There's royalty relief on deep, complicated horizontal wells.

When we look at the economics of dry natural gas plays in North America, the Tier 1 Marcellus is probably the best play we've seen, but I think the Wilrich has a shot at comparing well.

Investor You've done so many acquisitions over time; are you still in the hunt?

Dundas We're growing production organically and arguably have all that we need. The bar for bringing in new assets or establishing a new core area is much higher than it used to be, but it's a good problem to have. We're in the hunt, but we don't need to be.

This year we've been a net seller, but the acquisition opportunities we see are unprecedented in my career. There's such a change in the amount of resource available in North America; it's remarkable. I'd love to increase our position in the Bakken, although that's been fairly pricey in the past two years.