IMO raises your prospects

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL LTD., $32.38, is a buy for safety-conscious investors. The stock (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares o/s: 764.2 million; Market cap: $24.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Divd. yield: 2.7%; www.imperialoil.ca) lets you tap Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil producer, after Suncor (No. 1) and Canadian Natural Resources. ExxonMobil (symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of Imperial. In response to a lack of new pipeline capac-ity, Imperial plans to ship more of its crude by rail. In the third quarter of 2019, it shipped just 52,000 barrels a day by rail, or 13% of its aver-age total production of 407,000 barrels a day. The planned increase will let Imperial raise its production—and earnings—over the next few years. As well, the company plans to spend $450 million to boost output at its Cold Lake oil sands project in northeastern Alberta. By the end of 2021, that will add 15,000 barrels a day to its production. As well, Imperial aims to in-crease output at its Kearl operation to 280,000 barrels…