Imperial Oil Q3 profit down 24%

Imperial Oil's third-quarter profit slumped by $129 million, or 24 per cent, because of scheduled maintenance at the Syncrude oilsands operation and the strong Canadian dollar, the company said Monday.

Profit was $418 million (49 cents a diluted share), compared with $547 million (64 cents a share) in 2009's third quarter.

Revenue, however, rose to $5.85 billion from $5.56 billion.  

The 24 per cent profit drop reflected a $90-million loss attributed to Syncrude maintenance costs in Alberta and $70 million from the effects of a stronger Canadian dollar on foreign sales revenue. But those negatives were partly offset by higher upstream commodity prices and downstream retail margins.

Imperial said it spent nearly $1.2 billion on capital projects and exploration, more than double the $545 million spent in the 2009 third quarter.

Some of the higher investment was spent to support the Kearl oilsands project, the company said. That project is being reconfigured to take out bottlenecks and expand the facility, but will leave the overall production and resources developed at the project "relatively unchanged."

Imperial also said it is extending its alliance with Tim Hortons Inc., so there will be 175 more Tim's outlets at Esso gas stations across Canada over the next decade. There are now more than 350 Tim Hortons kiosks inside Esso stations.

Imperial said nine-month profit was $1.41 billion ($1.65 a diluted share), compared with $1.05 billion ($1.22) in the first three quarters of 2009.

Revenue rose to $18.16 billion from $15.53 billion.