IMPERIAL OIL &lt;IMO.A> IN TALKS WITH SUPPLIERS

  Imperial Oil Ltd, 70 pct-owned by Exxon
  Corp &lt;XON>, is negotiating with it major crude oil suppliers
  concerning the effects of a trial deregulation of Alberta's
  shut-in crude oil production, scheduled to be implemented on
  June 1, a company spokesman said.
      "From our point of view, it's a question of entering into
  negotiations or discussions to make appropriate changes to
  contracts to reflect the changes that are going to take place
  on June 1," spokesman John Cote told Reuters in reply to a
  query.
      Commenting on published reports that Imperial had suspended
  its oil supply contracts, Cote said: "It's not a question of
  cancelling or suspending any of the agreements at this point."
      On June 1, Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board
  will lift its crude oil marketing prorationing system,
  regulating shut-in light and medium crude production, on a
  trial basis to the end of 1987.
      Under the new system, producers and refiners will be
  allowed to negotiate volumes of shut-in oil to be delivered
  under purchase contracts.
      Shut-in crude is the surplus between the total amount of
  oil being produced and the amount being purchased by refiners.
      "We have talked to a number of our major suppliers, and
  we've discussed the upcoming change with them, but nothing has
  been finalized," Imperial's manager of western crude supply Gary
  Strong said.
      Under Alberta's trial system, Imperial wants to match a
  reasonable supply of crude against the company's forecast
  demand for its refineries, Strong said.
      "We have to know what they have and how that relates to what
  we need in total," he said.
      Strong said figures on the amount of crude production
  Imperial purchases from outside suppliers were not immediately
  available.
  

