Updating two of our safety-conscious oils

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL $40.61 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 854.2 million; Market cap: $34.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.imperialoil.ca) is the largest investor in the Mackenzie pipeline project, which aims to pump natural gas from the Arctic to Alberta. The company owns 34.4% of this project. Recently, Royal Dutch Shell (New York symbol RDS.A) said it will sell its 11.4% stake in the proposed pipeline. That’s mainly because regulatory delays have doubled the project’s estimated costs, to around $16.2 billion. To put that in perspective, Imperial’s market cap is $37.6 billion. As well, new discoveries of shale gas in Canada and the U.S. have increased gas supply and depressed prices. Royal Dutch Shell aims to complete this sale by June 2012. That gives it plenty of time to find a buyer. Imperial and its remaining partners will make a final decision on the Mackenzie project in December 2013. If they decide to proceed, the new pipeline could begin operating in…