Imperial Oil posts $1.17B first-quarter profit, best in over 30 years

Imperial Oil Ltd. says it posted its highest first-quarter profit in over 30 years as it earned $1.17 billion, boosted by higher oil prices.

The company also announced plans to buy back up to $2.5 billion of its common shares.

Imperial says the profit amounted to $1.75 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, up from a profit of $392 million or 53 cents per share a year earlier.

Total revenue and other income amounted to $12.69 billion, up from $7 billion in the first three months of 2021.

Production averaged 380,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day in the quarter, down from 432,000 in the same period of 2021 due to extreme cold weather and unplanned downtime at the Kearl oilsands mine.

Imperial says refinery throughput averaged 399,000 barrels per day, up from 364,000 in the first quarter of last year. Capacity utilization was 93 per cent, up from 85 per cent a year earlier.