Top producers can handle greenhouse targets

Article Excerpt

Canada’s federal government recently announced new greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. Those include cutting emissions from oil and gas producers by 42% before 2031. That new target is more aggressive than Suncor’s or Imperial Oil’s own plan. Even so, meeting it is unlikely to severely impact their earnings considering the government will help offset their costs for new carbon-reduction technologies. Moreover, Suncor and Imperial will continue to benefit from elevated oil prices due to increased economic activity and sanctions on Russian oil exports. SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $41 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.44 billion; Market cap: $59.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2030. To achieve that goal, it’s investing in several projects. For example, Suncor has formed a partnership with ATCO Ltd. (Toronto symbol ACO.X) to produce clean-burning hydrogen from natural gas. If the partners decide to proceed with the…