Overview
Imperial Oil Ltd. is an integrated Canadian energy company operating in upstream oil and gas, refining and marketing, and chemicals. Its activities include exploring for and producing crude oil and natural gas, refining crude into petroleum products, and manufacturing and marketing chemical products. Its production and oil and gas rights are in Canada; it sells products in Canada and export markets.[1][2][3]
The company’s stated purpose is “Creating solutions that improve quality of life and meet society’s evolving needs.” [4] Formed in 1880 by refiners in southwestern Ontario, Imperial reported 2025 revenue of C$46,918 million and approximately 5,000 regular employees at year-end.[5][6][7] [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][4][3][5]
Products & services
Imperial Oil sells crude oil and bitumen, synthetic crude oil, refined petroleum products, petrochemicals, asphalt and lubricants, and supplies fuels through Esso and Mobil retail and commercial channels. Its Sarnia chemical products include polyethylene, solvents, higher olefins and aromatics. Asphalt is marketed for paving and roofing applications, with customer technical support; its paving asphalt grade PG 46-34 is specified for road construction and meets AASHTO M320, with a minimum flash point of 230°C and maximum apparent viscosity of 3.00 Pa·s at 135°C.[8][9][10][11][12]
In 2025, gross production averaged 433 thousand barrels per day (kb/d) of crude oil, including 350 kb/d of bitumen and 79 kb/d of synthetic crude oil; these represented about 80% and 18%, respectively, of gross oil-equivalent production of 438 thousand barrels per day. Refinery throughput averaged 402 kb/d, while petroleum-product sales were 470 kb/d: gasoline 224 kb/d (about 48%); heating, diesel and jet fuels 177 kb/d (about 38%); lubricating oils and other products 48 kb/d (about 10%); and heavy fuel oils 21 kb/d (about 4%). Petrochemical sales were 683 thousand tonnes. These percentages are calculated from reported volumes, not revenue shares. In the six months ended June 2026, petroleum sales averaged 444 kb/d and petrochemical sales were 343 thousand tonnes.[13][14][15] [13][14][15][8][9][10][11][12]
Geographic presence
Imperial Oil’s geographic footprint is concentrated in Canada, and all of its proved reserves were in Canada in its 2025 reporting year. Its oil-sands operations and leases are primarily in Alberta: Cold Lake (about 161,000 net acres), Kearl (34,000 net acres), and the Athabasca area, including about 68,000 undeveloped mineable acres and 171,000 net acres in other areas. Imperial also has interests in the Kearl and Syncrude joint ventures.[16][17][18][19][20]
Its three refineries are in Strathcona, Alberta, and Sarnia and Nanticoke, Ontario. The company’s head and principal office is in Calgary, Alberta. Imperial reported approximately 5,000 regular employees at December 31, 2025, but the reviewed filings do not provide their geographic distribution. The 2025 annual report and Q2 2026 filing do not disclose revenue or sales by country or region.[21][22][23][24][25][26] [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]
Business segments
Imperial Oil reports three business segments. Upstream explores for and produces crude oil and equivalents, and natural gas; Downstream refines crude oil into petroleum products and distributes and markets them; Chemical manufactures and markets hydrocarbon-based chemicals and related products.[1]
In FY2025, Downstream generated C$45.638 billion in external revenue, about 97.3% of consolidated revenue; Chemical generated C$989 million (2.1%); and Upstream generated C$291 million (0.6%). The revenue-share denominator is consolidated revenue of C$46.918 billion.[27] By segment net income, the approximate shares of the three segments’ combined C$4.072 billion were Upstream 52.1%, Downstream 45.9%, and Chemical 2.0%; these percentages exclude Corporate and other, which recorded a net loss.[6][28] [1][27][6][28]
Company history
Imperial Oil was formed in 1880 by 16 southwestern Ontario refiners. It acquired and rebuilt the Bushnell refinery in Sarnia in 1897, and the following year Standard Oil acquired a majority interest. The company opened a service station in Vancouver in 1907 and, in 1914, formed International Petroleum Company to pursue exploration in South America. Its name became Imperial Oil Limited in 1919.[5]
Imperial’s first discovery well at Norman Wells was drilled in 1920, and it established a research department in 1924. The 1947 Leduc No. 1 discovery helped launch Alberta’s modern oil boom. The company began experimental bitumen recovery at Cold Lake in 1964 and developed cyclic steam stimulation there in 1966.[29][5][30][31]
Imperial acquired Texaco Canada in 1989, expanding its Canadian operations. Kearl oil-sands operations began in 2013. In 2016, Imperial agreed to sell its remaining company-owned Esso retail stations. In 2026, it shut in production at Norman Wells, more than a century after its discovery well was drilled there.[32][33][34][29] [5][29][30][31][32][33][34]
Sources
- IMPERIAL OIL LTD — Full financial report (2025 Y)
- www.imperialoil.ca[3]
- www.imperialoil.ca[4]
- www.imperialoil.ca[5]
- www.imperialoil.ca[8]
- www.imperialoil.ca[9]
- www.imperialoil.ca[10]
- www.imperialoil.ca[11]
- www.mobil.com[12]
- IMPERIAL OIL LTD — Press release (2025 Y)[13]
- IMPERIAL OIL LTD — Press release (2026 Q 2)[15]
- IMPERIAL OIL LTD — Full financial report (2026 Q 2)[23]
- www.imperialoil.ca[26]
- www.imperialoil.ca[29]
- history.alberta.ca[30]
- www.imperialoil.ca[31]
- searcharchives.ucalgary.ca[32]
- www.imperialoil.ca[33]
- news.imperialoil.ca[34]
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