Imperial's March Optimistic on Mackenzie Prospects
By Reg Curren
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Imperial Oil Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Bruce March, head of Canada's largest oil company, said he's the most optimistic he has been in the past five years about the chances of the Mackenzie gas pipeline proceeding.
Recent comments from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is seeking re-election on Oct. 14, have boosted Imperial's confidence for the C$16.2 billion ($15.2 billion) project to proceed, March said at a Toronto investor conference today.
``We're very committed to the project and we're probably more optimistic than we've been in the last five or six years,'' said March.
Building the proposed 1,220-kilometer (758-mile) pipeline has been marred by regulatory delays and surging costs. Calgary- based Imperial, head of the conduit's development group, in 2007 doubled its cost estimate for the project and pushed back the target completion date by three years to 2014.
The Mackenzie project would carry 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas a day from Canada's Northwest Territories, delivering it to customers by connecting to the North American pipeline system in northern Alberta.
Prime Minister Harper said Aug. 27 he is ``optimistic'' Imperial's Mackenzie pipeline project will ``come to fruition.''
Imperial is 70 percent owned by Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest oil company.
Imperial fell C$1.97, or 4.3 percent, to C$43.83 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock has fallen almost 20 percent so far this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Reg Curren in Calgary at rcurren@bloomberg.net.
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