To put it mildly, the recession has not been kind to oil sands projects. These massive operations, in which an extremely thick, heavy crude oil is typically dug out of the earth and trucked to an upgrader for processing, are hugely capital intensive. Just last year, Teck Resources
That kind of money isn't so easy to come by these days. Combine that price tag with a knocked-down oil price and uncertainty about the macro economy, and it's suddenly very hard to justify a giant oil sands investment. Even smaller projects, like Enerplus Resources Fund's planned in-situ operation at Kirby, have been shelved.
That's why it was interesting to see Imperial Oil
A Cold Lake expansion wouldn't even be Imperial's boldest move this year. The firm's Kearl oil sands mining project is even bigger potatoes. Fluor
Ah. That explains quite a lot. Between moving forward with major investments while other Canadian operators cower, and repurchasing a slew of shares to boot, Imperial is rather reminiscent of the greatest company in the history of the world.
So does this signal some movement in the oil sands business? Keep an eye on oil sands players like Suncor and Total SA