Imperial Oil announces estimated second-quarter financial and operating results

Calgary, Alberta, July 26, 2012
Imperial Oil’s earnings in the second quarter of 2012 were $635 million, compared with $726 million in the second quarter of 2011. Earnings were lower primarily due to lower crude oil realizations and higher planned maintenance activities. These factors were partially offset by stronger industry refining margins compared to 2011. Our Chemical segment continued to perform very well with record quarterly earnings of $49 million.

In our Upstream business, significant planned downtimes were completed at Cold Lake and Syncrude. Both downtimes were essentially on time and on budget but did result in less production versus the same time period last year.

Our Downstream business continued to contribute solid earnings despite significant refinery maintenance activities, which impacted our second quarter results by $120 million. Substantial planned maintenance at our Strathcona and Nanticoke refineries along with unplanned downtime at Sarnia reduced our ability to fully capitalize on strong mid-continent refining margins.

Capital and exploration activities to the end of June were $2,481 million and were directed to company growth projects at Kearl and Cold Lake. Our continued strong business performance allowed us to finance these investments largely by cash flow from operations. We are pleased with our workforce’s ability to sustain base business performance while executing a complex portfolio of capital projects. The Kearl initial development remains on track to start-up by the end of the year.

Click here to read our interim report news release.

Imperial Oil is one of Canada’s largest corporations and a leading member of the country’s petroleum industry. The company is a major producer of crude oil and natural gas, Canada’s largest petroleum refiner, a key petrochemical producer and a leading marketer with coast-to-coast supply and retail service station networks.