UPDATE 2-EnCana shareholders approve company split

* Shareholders approve oil-natural gas split

* Transaction complete on Nov. 30

* Company sees split as takeover defense

* Shares rise 2.6 percent (Adds detail and comment, updates shares.)

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 25 (Reuters) - EnCana Corp's (ECA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) investors on Wednesday approved a plan to split Canada's No. 2 independent petroleum producer into independent oil and natural gas businesses, completing a move first mulled more than a year ago but delayed by the financial crisis.

Shareholders voted 99 percent in favor of the transaction, through which EnCana will spin off its oil sands operations into a new company called Cenovus Energy Inc and retain its natural gas production business, the largest in Canada.

The vote means EnCana can proceed with a transaction first proposed in May 2008, but delayed when the credit crunch made it too expensive for the oil sands business to raise capital.

EnCana will emerge from the split, final on November 30 pending court approvals expected later on Wednesday, focused on its natural gas holdings.

The company has built large positions in some of the most promising shale-gas regions in North America, including the Haynesville region in the U.S. southeast and the Horn River region in northern British Columbia.