Imperial tightens its focus

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL $51.60 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $44.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Div. yield: 1.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) is selling some of its conventional oil and natural gas properties in Alberta and B.C. to Whitecap Resources. These assets produce 15,000 barrels a day, which is equal to 5.1% of the 295,000 barrels a day that Imperial produced in 2013. The company will receive $855 million when the sale closes in May 2014. That will help it pay for its plan to spend $5.5 billion on its main properties this year, including expanding its Cold Lake and Kearl oil sands developments. These investments should increase Imperial’s daily output by 150,000 barrels in 2015. Imperial Oil is a buy. buy…