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Canada's Imperial Oil Quarterly Profit Falls on Weak Crude Prices

Canada's Imperial Oil Quarterly Profit Falls on Weak Crude Prices

The Canadian oil company Imperial Oil reported a decline in profit for the fourth quarter on Friday as lower crude prices were offset by higher production and better utilization of refinery capacity.

Benchmark crude oil prices dropped 3% in 2024, due to the economic challenges in China and a sluggish recovery from the pandemic. A supply glut was also exacerbated by a surge in U.S. production and that of other non-OPEC countries.

The company raised its quarterly dividend to 72 Canadian cents per shares, an increase of 20%.

Imperial's production upstream for the quarter October-December was 460,000 barrels of crude oil equivalents per day (boepd), as compared to 452,000 boepd in the same period the previous year.

The total throughput volume, or amount of crude processed per day, was up by nearly 1% to 411,000 barrels (bpd). Refinery usage was 95%, up from 94% in the previous year.

The Calgary-based company reported that its net income dropped to C$1.23billion ($849.39m), or C$2.37/share, for the quarter ending Dec. 31 from C$1.37billion, or C$2.47/share, last year.

Imperial's earnings are down as Canadians prepare for the 25% tariff that President Trump is expected to impose on Canadian imports on February 1.

According to the Energy Information Administration, Canada is the largest source of U.S. crude oil imports and will supply more than half the total imports in 2023.

Imperial Oil, which is owned by Exxon Mobil in the United States, reported a decline in its fourth-quarter profits earlier today. ($1 = 1,4481 Canadian Dollars) (Reporting and editing by Devika Syamnath in Bengaluru)

(source: Reuters)