BP’s oil spill shouldn’t hurt these four

Article Excerpt

In response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, regulators will probably require offshore drillers to install more equipment aimed at preventing future spills. These extra costs would hurt the profits of companies that are active in the Gulf, including Chevron and Apache. However, any new costs would have little impact on their long-term prospects. As well, the spill should make less-risky onshore producers more attractive. That would favour Encana, with its growing unconventional natural-gas reserves, and Cenovus, which focuses on the oil sands. CHEVRON CORP. $72 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $144.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 4.0%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the U.S., after ExxonMobil. Chevron gets 95% of its earnings by producing oil and natural-gas. The remaining 5% comes from its refineries, petrochemical operations and gas stations. In response to the BP oil spill, the Obama administration has banned…