- Business
- Imperial Oil Limited is a leading integrated Canadian energy company engaged in the exploration, production, refining, and marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products. The company operates through three primary segments: Upstream, which focuses on crude oil and natural gas production from oil sands and conventional resources primarily in Alberta and the Northwest Territories; Downstream, encompassing refining at facilities in Edmonton, Sarnia, Dartmouth, and Nanticoke with a capacity exceeding 400,000 barrels per day, and marketing under Esso and Mobil retail brands; and Chemical, producing polyethylene, naphtha intermediates, vinyl intermediates, aromatics, lubricants, asphalts, and specialty products at its Sarnia facility. Imperial refines raw hydrocarbons into approximately 650 petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and natural gas, supplying about a quarter of Canada's daily petroleum needs to consumers, businesses, and export markets via its extensive Esso and Mobil station network, commercial cardlocks, and industrial channels.
Founded in 1880 in London, Ontario, by 16 independent refiners, Imperial Oil is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, with its majority shareholder ExxonMobil holding approximately 69.6% ownership; the company maintains operations across Canada coast-to-coast. It targets diverse customer segments, from retail motorists and commercial fleets to industrial manufacturers reliant on fuels, lubricants, and petrochemical feedstocks essential for plastics and everyday goods.
In recent developments, Imperial announced a 2025 restructuring in September 2025 to centralize corporate and technical activities in global business centers, leveraging ExxonMobil expertise and advanced technologies to achieve $150 million in annual expense reductions by 2028 while maintaining unchanged production guidance. The company anticipates first oil from its Leming steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) redevelopment project at Cold Lake in late 2025, ramping to 9,000 barrels per day, alongside Kearl oil sands growth and full-year contributions from Grand Rapids operations targeting 456,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day. Downstream highlights include the mid-2025 launch of the Strathcona renewable diesel facility—the largest in Canada—producing one billion litres annually from local feedstocks, enhanced refinery throughput via streamlined turnarounds, and accelerated share buybacks under its normal course issuer bid to return surplus cash to shareholders.