(Calgary) Imperial Oil increased its quarterly dividend by 20% after reporting a profit of $1.37 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $1.73 billion a year earlier.
The oil company announced Friday that shareholders will now receive a quarterly dividend of 60 cents per share, up from 50 cents per share.
The increased payout comes as Imperial reported earnings of $2.47 per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from earnings of $2.86 per share a year earlier. year earlier, due to the fall in raw material prices.
President and CEO Brad Corson said in a statement that the “excellent 2023 financial results were supported by strong operating performance in all [les] activities, illustrated by record production and substantial reductions in unit costs at Kearl.”
Revenue and other income totaled 13.11 billion, down from 14.45 billion in the last three months of 2022.
The company says production from the upstream sector during the quarter averaged 452,000 crude barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to 441,000 for the same period a year earlier.
Imperial said this was the highest quarterly production in more than 30 years when taking into account the sale of its stake in XTO Energy Canada in 2022.
Quarterly refinery throughput averaged 407,000 barrels per day, up from 433,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2022, while capacity utilization was 94%, compared to 101% a year earlier.
This result follows the completion of a planned turnaround at Imperial’s Sarnia, Ontario refinery, which was completed ahead of schedule in October.