In April, the call was that Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) was undervalued at $7.31. If you bought CBI in April, you're up 178%. Not bad.

Moreover, it goes without saying that I'm reiterating my Buy rating for CBI, first recommended on April 6, 2009.

In this market and economy, you take the good news where you can get it, and on Friday U.S. investors received one from up north. Namely: oil sands.

Tar-sands oil in Canada is cleaner than previously calculated, according to an Alberta government report.

Carbon-dioxide emissions from producing oil in Western Canada sand deposits are roughly 10% higher than competing U.S. crude imports, the Alberta Energy Research Institute announced, Bloomberg News reported. Earlier studies had found that greenhouse gases from oil sands were as much as 40% higher.

I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Suncor Enegy (NYSE: SU) first recommended on February 25, 2009 at a price of $18.35.

Suncor's oil sands production increased 12% in Q1 or by 27,800 barrels per day, roughly in-line with expectations. Moreover, oil sands is the driver here, with the focus being Canada's Athabasca oil sands region: oil sands require a larger investment and hence a higher price, but the substantial sands resources of Canada will play a larger role in energy as the world's older, conventional oil fields continue to decline.

An oil play? In this market? You may ask, "How so?"

True, the price of oil collapsed 2008, due to the departure of many leveraged investors after the financial crisis started, and due to the U.S. and global recessions. Hence, given oil's likely sluggish 2009 path, you have to investigate thoroughly (due diligence) and invest carefully when you're considering an oil play.

That said, know this: oil 'taint' going to remain near $35-45 per barrel forever. When global GDP growth resumes (it's flat-lining now, or worse), oil will move back toward $60, and with the above in mind, Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU) is worth a review.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"Like the U.S., Canada is looking to big infrastructure plans," says Roger Conrad. In The Canadian Edge, he looks to Bird Construction Income Fund (OTC: BIRDF) as his top pick for 2009.

The Canadian income stock specialist explains, "The U.S. isn't the only country about to pour billions into infrastructure; Canada is also making a big move. And Bird Construction will be a prime beneficiary of this infrastructure spending.

"Bird has been a dominant player in building design and construction services for more than 85 years. Today, the company literally has its hands in every province, supporting projects for everything from oil sands mining to school construction.

"Third quarter 2008 revenue surged 31.5%, pushing nine-month growth to 48.3% as earnings per share more than doubled from 2007 levels.

"Meanwhile, order backlog -- the best predictor of future growth -- rose to better than $1.2 billion (Canadian), up from $821 million a year ago and $969 million at the beginning of 2008.

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said Monday oil prices are unlikely to fall below $60 per barrel, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

Ali al-Naimi, head of the nation with the world's largest oil reserves and highest oil exports, did not indicate whether OPEC was leaning toward maintaining current production quotas in the face of oil's most-recent price rise. Oil has increased about $15 in the past two weeks to more than $100 per barrel, as concerns about underperforming U.S. stocks due to the sluggish U.S. economy, and inflation fears, have prompted investors to pile into oil as an investment and as an inflation hedge. Oil closed Wednesday up 61 cents to $102.45 per barrel.

Last week, OPEC President and Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil told reporters in Algiers that "we don't expect to put more oil in the market."

New oil floor: $60?

Al-Naimi told Bloomberg News yesterday that obtaining energy from harder-to-refine sources, such as tar sands and alternative fuels, costs about $60-70 per barrel "and, therefore, a line has been drawn below which the price cannot fall."

China National Petroleum Corp, parent of PetroChina Comapny, Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) has gotten rights from the Canadian province of Alberta to drill for oil. But the company plans to do it the hard way.

One of the hopes for replacing dependence on current oil reserves is to drill into tar sands. The ground contains a substance that can be converted to oil, but the process of separating out the material that can be refined is very costly. Then again, so are oil prices. As the price for crude sits near $70 a barrel and China looks to the need for oil and gas to keep its economy moving, tar sands drilling may actually make economic sense.

According to Wikipedia: "Oil sands may represent as much as 2/3 of the world's total petroleum resource." If oil demand continues to rise, tapping this resource may become critical.

Right now, China has no way to get much more than its share of the world's oil production. The economies of Europe, Japan, and the U.S. need the fuel just as much as the big Asian country. But if China is willing to make the investment, it could start to change the game. The communist government does not have the public company P&L issues that big oil companies do. It can put down huge sums of money if it thinks tar sands could solve its problem in the decades ahead.

And that would give China an edge.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.