Canada's Imperial Oil beats profit estimates on record output, strong refining

By Amanda Stephenson, Pooja Menon and Khusbu Jena

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Canada's Imperial Oil IMO.TO reported a better than expected third-quarter profit on Friday, as record production and refinery throughput offset lower crude prices.

The strong results come after Imperial's September announcement that it would cut its workforce by about 20% by the end of 2027, part of a major restructuring that will eventually shutter most of its presence in the oil-and-gas city of Calgary.

Imperial, majority-owned by Exxon Mobil XOM.N, plans to relocate most of its remaining Canadian jobs by 2028 to its Strathcona Refinery near Edmonton, Alberta, and also outsource some work to Exxon's "global capability centres" in India.

Adjusted profit reached C$2.17 per share for the quarter ended September 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of C$1.92 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Imperial CEO John Whelan addressed the layoffs on a Friday conference call, saying the company must adapt to a rapidly advancing technology environment by taking advantage of its relationship with Exxon and the growth in the latter's global operations.

OIL SANDS PRODUCERS REMAIN RESILIENT

"We will remain a proud Canadian company," Whelan said. "An industry-leading, technology-focused energy company contributing significantly to the country and our shareholders."

Canadian oil sands producers such as Imperial Oil have remained resilient amid a global oil industry downturn, supported by years of investment that have made it among North America's lowest-cost producers.

Imperial said Friday its upstream production for July-September rose 3.4% to 462,000 gross barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), the highest quarterly output in more than three decades.

This was driven by record production at its Kearl operations and steady output from Cold Lake and Syncrude.

Imperial's downstream segment ran at 98% utilization, up from 90% last year. Total throughput volumes also rose 9.3% to 425,000 bpd during the quarter.

The quarter included a C$306 million after-tax non-cash impairment due to the sale of its Calgary campus and a C$249 million after-tax restructuring charge related to employee severance packages.

($1 = 1.4024 Canadian dollars)