Company overview

More than 140 years of industry leadership and innovation

Since 1880 Imperial has consistently demonstrated unwavering high standards, pioneering Canadian spirit, innovation and leadership in the challenging energy industry.  

While much has changed for more than 140 years, remaining true to these fundamentals has kept us at the forefront of the race to meet the world’s growing demands for energy.  Our goal is to do business in an economically, environmentally and socially responsible manner while delivering superior long-term value.  

At Imperial, we believe that we can have reliable and affordable energy, a strong economy and a clean environment, and we're committed to making it happen.

What we do

As an integrated energy company, we explore for, produce, refine and market products essential to society.

Whether it's finding oil and gas, making and selling high-quality petroleum products, or investing in innovative research, our business helps ensure Canada's quality of life and energy future. 

In our upstream business, we are contributing to reliable, affordable supplies of oil and gas for Canadians.  From coast to coast to coast we play a major role in developing Canada's oil and gas resources, investing billions of dollars to select the highest quality resources from opportunities in diverse geological and geographical environments.  

We are Canada's largest refiner of petroleum products.  We refine raw hydrocarbons into about 650 petroleum products essential to consumers and businesses: gasoline, diesel, heating oil, natural gas, lubricants, and chemicals used to make plastics.  It’s hard to imagine life without the products manufactured from hydrocarbons.  They fuel our economies, heat our homes and make our lives easier and more enjoyable.  Like you, we are concerned about the effects of chemicals on health and the environment and we have integrated Responsible Care® into our business practices.

Imperial offers these products and services to consumers across Canada as well as in export markets.  In total, we manufacture and sell about a quarter of the petroleum products used every day by Canadians.  We are a leading marketer of fuels, lubricants, asphalts and specialty products.

• In addition to Imperial’s industrial and wholesale businesses, our retail brands, Esso and Mobil, are familiar fixtures across Canada. 

How we do it 

We start by hiring the best and brightest and insist on maintaining the highest standards in ethical conduct and legal compliance to bring integrity to all aspects of our business.

The safety of our workforce is a company-wide priority and is a value that guides us to strive to achieve a very simple objective – Nobody Gets Hurt.  

We apply innovative thinking and continually invest in research and technology, growth projects and the communities where we operate.

To uphold our commitment to responsible development we strictly adhere to government regulations and follow detailed management systems.  While we are pleased with our progress in our environmental performance, we know there is still more work to be done. We will not relent in our efforts to reduce the impact of our operations.

Our stakeholders have an important voice in how we conduct our business.  Open and constructive dialogue provides an understanding of the issues that concern government, community and environmental groups, Indigenous communities and the public, and it helps us collaborate on solutions. We are building long-lasting relationships with our neighbours.

We take a long-term view, drawing on best practices and decades of experience to advance projects efficiently and responsibly in phases, allowing us to incorporate new best practices and technologies. 

Standing out from the crowd: research and technology

Imperial is distinguished for its long-term commitment to research and technology. We are one of the select few energy companies in Canada with dedicated research facilities.  Scientists at our Calgary and Sarnia facilities conduct research and also partner with academic experts and scientists at ExxonMobil. Together, these efforts create better ways to recover energy resources, reduce environmental impacts and produce new or improved products for Canadians.