Imperial Oil Ltd.’s chief govt lauded “what a distinction a yr makes” because the Calgary-based firm reported its highest third-quarter manufacturing in additional than 30 years towards a backdrop of surging oil costs.
Brad Corson, who can also be the corporate’s chair and president, mentioned in a convention name with analysts Friday that Imperial’s third quarter revenue of $908 million amounted to $1.29 per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 in contrast with a revenue of $3 million or zero cents per diluted share in the identical quarter final yr.
Income and different revenue totalled $10.23 billion, up from $5.96 billion a yr in the past.
The corporate set a variety of data or near-records within the quarter. Its Kearl oilsands mine close to Fort McMurray, Alta. averaged 274,000 barrels per day of manufacturing, the power’s second highest-ever quarterly manufacturing.
READ MORE: Imperial Oil earns $366M; Kearl oilsands site sets 25 year production record
Internet revenue from Imperial’s chemical enterprise was $121 million, the best quarterly web revenue in over 30 years. Chemical web revenue by way of the primary 9 months of 2021 was $297 million, exceeding the earlier file set in 2018.
Imperial’s shares misplaced $3.20 or 7.1 per cent to $41.90 in Friday buying and selling on the Toronto Inventory Change, up greater than 86 per cent because the begin of the yr and up almost 50 per cent since pre-pandemic ranges originally of March 2020.
Like all Canadian-based oil corporations, Imperial is benefiting from the best commodity costs in years as world economies reopen and raise restrictions within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These identical corporations noticed their revenues and inventory costs plunge within the early days of the pandemic as lockdowns and journey restrictions despatched the worth of oil plummeting.
However Corson echoed a theme that a number of vitality executives have emphasised in latest days, as he mentioned the corporate’s sturdy quarter isn’t simply as a result of market-driven rebound in costs. He mentioned Imperial spent final yr’s downturn specializing in cost-cutting and bettering reliability at its websites, which is able to assist the corporate within the long-term, regardless of the place the worth of oil finally ends up.
“We proceed to learn from actions we took final yr to scale back our total price construction and enhance reliability,” Corson mentioned. “And this mix is so advantageous when commodity costs are persevering with to see energy. That is what permits us to seize most worth as we speak, but in addition ensures our resiliency in a downturn ought to that happen sooner or later.”
Imperial says manufacturing averaged 435,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day for the quarter, up from 365,000 in the identical interval of 2020, helped by sturdy working efficiency and the absence of deliberate turnaround exercise.
Refinery throughput averaged 404,000 barrels per day, up from 341,000 barrels per day within the third quarter of 2020.
The corporate’s upstream enterprise earned $524 million within the quarter in contrast with a lack of $74 million a yr in the past, whereas its downstream enterprise earned $293 million in contrast with a revenue of $77 million in the identical quarter final yr.
Additionally within the quarter, Imperial introduced plans to construct a renewable diesel facility at its Strathcona refinery close to Edmonton. Corson mentioned a remaining funding determination has not but been made, however the facility might produce as much as 1 billion litres of renewable diesel per yr and “generate vital worth for our firm and shareholders.”
He mentioned the power may even reveal Imperial’s dedication to attain net-zero greenhouse fuel emissions from oilsands operations by 2050.
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