Imperial Oil posts higher quarterly profit on elevated energy prices

(Reuters) -Canadas Imperial Oil Ltd reported higher fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday compared with a year earlier, helped by elevated energy prices and tight global supplies.

Benchmark oil prices cooled from the 14-year highs they reached in the first half of 2022, but were still 9% higher year-over-year during the quarter as Western sanctions contained Russian supply and OPEC+ made steep cuts to production. [O/R]

Imperial said its upstream production for the fourth quarter averaged 441,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day (boepd), down from 445,000 boepd in the same quarter a year earlier.

The producer and refiners crude capacity utilization was 101%, its highest ever, resulting in total throughput of 433,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the fourth quarter.

Calgary-based Imperial reported net income of C$1.7 billion ($1.26 billion), or C$2.86 per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, up from C$813 million or C$1.18 per share, a year earlier.

Imperial Oils majority shareholder, Exxon Mobil, posted an annual profit of $59 billion earlier today, setting a record for the Western oil industry.

($1 = 1.3448 Canadian dollars)