Oil sands leaders need strong oil prices

Article Excerpt

Oil prices have soared from around $18 U.S. a barrel in 1993 to around $100 U.S. today. However, new drilling technologies have made it easier to extract oil from hard-to-reach deposits, such as oil sands and shale rock formations. Rising production from these sources could hurt oil prices in the same way the shale gas boom has depressed natural gas prices (see Encana on Page 111). Even so, these three oil producers continue to expand their oil sands operations. Their long history operating these complex projects should help keep their operating costs down. That will help them weather any future downturn in oil prices. Moreover, their new projects will last decades. SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $36 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $54.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. suncor.com) gets 70% of its production from its Alberta oil sands projects. The rest comes from conventional oil and…