"While the third quarter of 2020 showed significant demand improvement, that recovery was somewhat tempered in the fourth quarter," Corson said during a webcast to discuss the
"Demand continues to be challenged by the ongoing pandemic and we are now seeing the impact of new community lockdowns in certain parts of
He said demand for gasoline in January was at about 70 to 75 per cent of normal after recovering to near normal levels in the third quarter last year, while jet fuel demand was at about 35 to 40 per cent and diesel demand remained at close to normal levels.
Imperial is one of
They posted an average utilization rate of 85 per cent in the last three months of 2020, equating to throughput of 359,000 barrels per day, up from 321,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The company reported its best oil and gas production in 30 years of 460,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, mainly thanks to record gross production of 284,000 barrels per day at its Kearl oilsands mine in northern
Kearl is 29 per cent owned by
Despite recent increases in benchmark world oil prices and the end of
"We're certainly encouraged by the price environment ... That may tempt you to increase your capital and growth program," he said, adding: "I think it makes more sense for us to stay the course for now."
The company disappointed some analysts by leaving its quarterly dividend unchanged at
"Kearl has turned a corner and now generates sufficient free cash flow for IMO to raise its dividend," said analyst
"Now two of the three upstream assets are delivering very strong results (and) IMO refining is outperforming many
Imperial committed to cut 2020 spending by
Corson said the company in fact cut its capital spend to
The savings came in part from job cuts, something Imperial has been reluctant to do during previous downturns. In November, it announced it would lay off about 200 of its 6,000 employees and confirmed it had reduced the number of contractors it employs by about 450.
On Tuesday, Imperial reported a net loss of
The loss was mainly due to a
Total revenue and other income amounted to
It announced in October it would cut its global workforce by about 15 per cent, equating to about 14,000 jobs.
This report by
Companies in this story: (TSX:IMO)
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