IMPERIAL OIL <IMO.A> IN TALKS WITH SUPPLIERS Imperial Oil Ltd, 70 pct-owned by Exxon Corp <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.