Cenovus and Suncor stand to profit from huge stake in worlds largest oil deposit.

The recoverable resource base is now 1 Trillion barrels of oil, with two Trillion more in reserves. Yes, that is Trillion!!




The Athabasca oil sands (not the company of the same name) in Canada is far and away, the largest deposit of oil on the planet, dwarfing the 250 Billion barrels of the entire Middle East. This resource alone can power the entire continent of North America, for the next 100 years. So why do Americans believe that the Middle East is their biggest supplier of oil (it is not, Canada is) and why is there a general misconception that the Middle East is where all of the oil is (not!). Even the vaunted New York times still believes Canada is second to the Middle East with 175 billion barrels of oil. Even most Canadians don't realize the enormous resource they are sitting on. It spans across northern Canada in a mass larger than England (The country!)


I guess the answer can be found in the constant barrage of news, both good and bad, that emanates from the middle east on a weekly basis. Conservative, soft spoken, boring old Canada can't compete with all that noise, but it certainly can compete in the energy industry. The largest supply of oil on the planet and that does not even include other reserves such as the Bakkan or what may lie beneath the arctic circle!

With oil companies from every country salivating over what may lay beneath the Arctic circle, Canada, you must remember, owns 25% of the Arctic! Canada also lays claim to over  20% of the worlds water supply (with only .03% of the worlds population),the second largest deposits of natural gas and coal on the planet, More Diamonds, potash, gold, copper, wheat and nickel than any other country as well as great stores of Lithium, Rare Earth elements (REE's) lumber, seafood, gypsum, wheat, cattle, and more!

Canada has paid down deficits for 9 of the past 10 years, has the most stable banking system in the world and a friendly, conservative government that is business friendly. These are only some of the reasons why the Canadian dollar (the Loonie) has had a stellar year, and will for many years to come.
  
  However, I digress, because this article is about the tremendous resource (and investment opportunity) that is the Athabasca oil sands. Stretching through the north of two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the oil sands are massive. Since the invention of the "steam assisted gravity drainage system (SAGD) the oil sands have been a booming place for investors. Given the massive resource base, that boom has only really scratched the surface (excuse the pun).

The bitumen could cover the entire country of England, and is as deep as 140 feet. Why do companies persist in destroying the gulf of Mexico, and the beaches and marshes of the southern states, when they can literally set up shop on the sands, shovel the bitumen into what is essentially a giant washing machine, and produce enough oil to power our cars, homes, power plants or whatever, for the next 100 years and beyond. Not only that, but you can ship it through pipelines to the U.S. market.

Just promise the friendly Canadian government that you will clean up after you leave, and you have a viable, 100 year energy operation that will make money for you every year. The biggest consumer of the product is right next door, with an insatiable appetite and it now has the political problem of explaining to it's citizens why 1/4 of the American marsh land is in jeopardy of being destroyed for the next 10 years.

Do you even wonder why the Chinese are now buying into this massive resource? (And backing a pipeline to the Pacific coast so they can ship raw bitumen back to China for processing)

It's time for America to wake up, and smell the oil (and the money)!

(Disclosure - No holdings)

Our top pick in this environment is Cenovus oil (CVE). In 2009 Encana split it's oil and gas assets with Encana (ECA) keeping the natural gas component and a new company, Cenovus, keeping the oil assets (with some nat gas). In Q1 2010, Cenovus boosted it's production by 66%  Cenovus has the best technology for processing bitumen in the oil sands and it is getting even better.There is no exposure in the gulf offshore drilling.
Expert high on Suncor - Cenovus - Canadian Oil

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Hold on to your Loonies!

Last year we told you to "hold on to your Loonies" as the Canada buck was trading around .77 usd at the time. Needless to say, we told you so! This week both the National Post and RBC are telling you the same thing, forecasting that by the end of the second quarter, the Loonie will trade "above" the U.S. dollar.

There has even been a spike in put options of late which allow the buyers to sell Aussie dollars for the Canada buck (Loonie). As the world searches for more places to "stash their cash", Canada has been at the forefront. The soundest banking system on the planet (Four of the five major banks just reported profits above analysts expectations) coupled with many natural resources, makes Canada a good bet for foreign investors and with the latest Canadian budget, that outlook brightens further, as the Canadian Government has done away with restrictive bureaucracy that kept, especially, American V/C firms from investing in Canada. With those restrictions gone, more capital is looking to Canada for safety as well as innovation in energy, bio tech, mobile web technology and numerous other businesses.

Canada projects (and so do many economists around the world) that it will be first mature economy to emerge from deficit spending. As the largest supplier of oil to the United States, and with an abundance of Natural Gas, hydro power and recently wind power, Canada is well positioned in the energy sector, with the largest consumer of energy right next door.

Add to that the fact that Canada holds over 20% of the worlds fresh water supply while it's citizens make up only .03% of the worlds population, and the outlook becomes brighter still.
Oh yes, have I mentioned Canada is the #2 suppler of diamonds to the world, (the #1 supplier of "non-blood" diamonds) and is in the top 3 % of suppliers of Potash, gold, copper, nickel, uranium, platinum, etc. It's known reserves of natural gas is second only to the United States at present, but will probably take the number one spot as exploration ramps up for shale gas.

Even manufacturing is flying in Canada as Bombardier of Montreal takes on the Giants of Aerospace, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, at least in the regional jet space, while it's rail car division signs more new contracts in Europe and Asia for high speed rail in the $Billions. Ballard Power Systems, the granddaddy of fuel cell technology is signing contracts in Europe and especially India to supply those areas with clean tech portable power for their mobile web expansion. Ottawa based Wilan Technologies has signed 212 licenses for it's mobile web technology and on March 11th, it stands to reap even more rewards from it's patents as Apple and 18 other tech giants face a Markham hearing in a Texas court to determine how much they have infringed on Wilan's patents.

Magna International, Inc. is an Ontario, Canada based company, which produces a massive amount of auto parts for many players in the auto industry. It also has a new division, Magna E-Car Systems, that provides integration of components and systems, as well as the development and production of innovative complete-vehicle solutions, from engineering to turnkey systems, for all hybrid and electric vehicle programs around the world. Magna also manufactures other automotive systems, assemblies, modules, and products.

Encana is a major natural gas supplier, with huge investments in shale gas from Texas to New York, from Vancouver to Nova Scotia besides it's already extensive regular natural gas projects. Encana recently split into two entities, leaving most of it's oil business to a new company Cenovus a now lean oil player based in Calgary Alberta. As two separate entities since November 2009, these two companies figure to factor in to the North American energy market in a big way over the next decade.

TD Bank, Canada's second largest bank, is expanding into the U.S. market at a time when many U.S. banks are ripe for the taking, and it expects that it's U.S. arm may outpace it's Canadian system of 2,000 branches in the not too distant future. Currently, without that growth, it already stands at North America's 7th largest bank by capitalization.

In 9 out of the last 10 years, Canada has not only been in "the black" but has actually paid down debt in each of those years, while the rest of the G20 sank deeper. Even with this years deficit, caused by international events rather than domestic, Canada's "per capita" debt is less than half that of America.

The Loonie is outshining the usd for good reason. Natural Resources, Natural Gas, Oil, Aerospace, mobile web technology, Clean Tech, energy, auto, bio science and banking are only some of the strengths of the "True North strong and free", so as we said before, hold on to your Loonies, and reap the rewards of years of restraint and good management. Canada's investment landscape is becoming a lot less boring, and a lot more profitable.

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