Imperial plans new oil sands projects

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $43 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 847.6 million;Market cap: $36.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield:1.4%; TSI Network Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is seeking regulatory approval for two new oil sands projects in Alberta. The first, called Aspen, holds 1.2 billion barrels; the second, an expansion of its Cold Lake project, has 550 million barrels. At the end of 2015, the company had proven reserves of 4.2 billion barrels (including natural gas). Imperial hopes to begin developing these projects in the next two years. New extraction methods will also make them more efficient than its current oil sands operations. Imperial Oil is a buy. buy…