Imperial’s balanced growth

Article Excerpt

Imperial Oil recently opened the first phase of its massive Kearl oil sands project in Alberta, and the second phase should start up next year. This project will help the company double its production, to 600,000 barrels a day, by 2020. Oil sands projects are harder to operate than conventional properties, and they need high oil prices to earn a profit. However, Imperial’s refineries help shield it from a drop in oil prices, because they would pay less for the crude they need. IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $57 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $48.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil company, after Suncor Energy and Canadian Natural Resources. Imperial is a 69.6%- owned subsidiary of U.S.-based ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM). About 80% of Imperial’s oil production comes from its oil sands operations in Alberta, including its 25% stake in…