Canadian oil producer Imperial Oil posted a fall in second-quarter profit on Friday, hurt by lower crude prices and a decline in refinery throughput.
Benchmark Brent crude prices were lower during the April-June quarter compared to a year earlier, pressured by weak global demand, market volatility due to tariffs and increased oil supply from OPEC+.
The Calgary, Alberta-based company’s total throughput volumes, or the amount of crude processed, fell to 376,000 barrels per day during the second quarter, from 387,000 bpd a year ago.
Refinery utilization stood at 87%, down from 89% in the same quarter last year.
Imperial CEO John Whelan announced the start-up of a renewable diesel facility that will deliver lower-emission fuels to the Canadian transportation sector.
The company said significant uncertainty exists regarding the effects that tariff-related actions could have on Imperial, its suppliers and its customers. It plans to monitor the global trade environment and work to mitigate potential impacts.
However, upstream production for the April-June quarter was 427,000 gross barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), higher than the 404,000 gross boepd a year earlier.
Imperial Oil is majority owned by U.S. oil and gas major ExxonMobil, which beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly profit earlier on Friday.
The company said its net income fell to C$949 million ($684.31 million), or C$1.86 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from C$1.13 billion, or C$2.11 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Katha Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Shreya Biswas)