Imperial
Oil Ltd. reported a 40% increase in
second-quarter earnings and said its big Kearl oil-sands project in Alberta
remains on track.
The integrated oil and gas company, based in Calgary and controlled by Exxon
Mobil Corp., earned a higher profit of C$726 million or 85 Canadian cents a
share in the latest quarter, citing higher crude oil prices, stronger industry
refining margins and increased Cold Lake bitumen production. However, higher
royalty costs, lower Syncrude volumes and the stronger Canadian dollar weighed
on results.
Revenue rose 27% to almost C$7.77 billion. That was below analyst expectations
for revenue of about C$7.88 billion.
Imperial Oil said Kearl's initial development is 68% complete and progressing
on schedule with expected start-up in late 2012. Production from the initial
development will be at 110,000 barrels of bitumen a day. A second-phase
expansion, with debottlenecking of both phases, will bring the project to
regulatory capacity of 345,000 barrels a day.