Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said its planned normal course issuer bid to purchase for cancellation up to 59,729,706 of its common shares has been approved by the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The shares represent about 5% of Canadian Natural's 1,194,594,136 issued and outstanding common shares as of May 10, according to a May 21 news release. The company said it will buy no more than 25% of the average daily trading volume of its common shares during a trading day. It will also pay according to the market price of the common shares at the time of purchase.

Purchases under the normal course issuer bid are slated to begin May 23 and close May 22, 2020, and can be made through the Toronto exchange's facilities, other alternative Canadian trading systems or the New York Stock Exchange.

The company expects to enter into an automatic share purchase plan to further facilitate the acquisition of common shares under its normal course issuer bid.

Canadian Natural's oil and gas exploration and production operations are focused in its core areas of western Canada, the U.K. portion of the North Sea and offshore Africa.