Teck puts off costly oil sands project

Article Excerpt

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $12 (Toronto symbol TCK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 576.2 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teck.com) has postponed its plan to develop its 100%-owned Frontier oil sands project in Alberta due to weak crude prices. The company had planned to start construction in 2019 and complete it in 2021. However, it now feels commercial production will begin in 2026. If Teck decides to build Frontier, it will cost $20.6 billion. Meanwhile, the company continues to work on its 20.0%-owned Fort Hills oil sands project; Suncor Energy (Toronto symbol SU) owns 40.8% of Fort Hills, while France’s Total SA holds the remaining 39.2%. Teck’s share of Fort Hills’ development costs is $2.94 billion. This project should begin operating in late 2017, and its reserves should last 50 years. Teck is still a buy for long-term gains. gains…