OilVoice - Imperial Oil Announces Estimated Fourth-quarter Financial and Operating Results

Imperial Oil Announces Estimated Fourth-quarter Financial and Operating Results

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Lower oil and natural gas prices and low demand for energy products continued to create challenging business conditions. Despite the ongoing economic downturn, Imperial continued to progress their company growth projects and delivered strong results.

Net income for the fourth quarter was $534 million, down 19 percent from the same period in 2008. While Upstream earnings in the fourth quarter were up from the same period last year, Downstream earnings in the fourth quarter were significantly impacted by lower overall product demand and margins.

With a strong balance sheet, minimal debt, and long-term disciplined approach, Imperial Oil are well positioned to continue to invest through the business cycle. In the fourth quarter, capital and exploration expenditures increased to $834 million, up 93 percent from the same period last year. For the full year 2009, capital and exploration expenditures were $2,438 million, up 79 percent from 2008.

Bruce March, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Imperial Oil, commented:
'Lower oil and natural gas prices and low demand for energy products continued to create challenging business conditions. Despite the ongoing economic downturn, Imperial continued to progress our company growth projects and delivered strong results.

Net income for the fourth quarter was $534 million, down 19 percent from the same period in 2008. While our Upstream earnings in the fourth quarter were up from the same period last year, Downstream earnings in the fourth quarter were significantly impacted by lower overall product demand and margins.

With our strong balance sheet, minimal debt, and long-term disciplined approach, we are well positioned to continue to invest through the business cycle. In the fourth quarter, capital and exploration expenditures increased to $834 million, up 93 percent from the same period last year. For the full year 2009, capital and exploration expenditures were $2,438 million, up 79 percent from 2008.

Our disciplined and long-term focused investment approach will continue to reward our shareholders. In 2009, Imperial distributed a total of $833 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases while we increased investments in major growth opportunities that will bring on new supplies of energy and growth for shareholders.'

Fourth quarter highlights
• Net income was $534 million, versus $660 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.
• Net income per common share was $0.62, versus $0.76 for the fourth quarter of 2008.
• Cash flow from operating activities was $927 million, compared with $912 million in the same period last year.
• Capital and exploration expenditures were $834 million, up 93 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008.
• Gross oil-equivalent barrels of production averaged 297,000 barrels a day, compared with 309,000 barrels a day in the same period last year. Lower production volumes in the fourth quarter were primarily due to well repairs in the northern part of the Cold Lake field. Drilling and steaming activities have since resumed in this area, and production is expected to return to normal levels.
• Achieved record safety performance - Imperial achieved its best-ever safety results for both employees and contractors in 2009. This achievement was an outcome of the significant commitment of the entire organization, and reflects Imperial's focus on operational excellence.
• Advanced Kearl - infrastructure construction and plant site preparation activities continued at the Kearl oil sands mining project, with a workforce of about 2,500 employees and contractors at year end. The Kearl project has a total estimated recoverable resource of 4.6 billion barrels of bitumen before royalties - in which Imperial holds a 71-percent interest.
• Strengthened position in the oil sands - utilizing its strong balance sheet, Imperial, in a 50-50 joint venture with ExxonMobil Canada, acquired oil sands mining leases from UTS Energy Corporation totaling a combined 16,600 net acres in Alberta's Athabasca region. The new leases are adjacent to existing undeveloped oil sands acreage held by Imperial in the area.
• Progressed exploration at Horn River - Imperial commenced its second winter season exploration program at Horn River in northeast British Columbia and is expected to drill up to 11 shale gas wells. Imperial, together with ExxonMobil Canada (50-50 interest), now holds 309,000 net acres in the area, industry's largest land position in the basin.
• Update on Mackenzie natural gas project - the Joint Review Panel released its report on the environmental, social and cultural impacts of the Mackenzie natural gas project, with the final regulatory decision expected in September 2010 from the National Energy Board.
• Investing through the down cycle on major growth projects - completed a $2.4 billion capital and exploration program in 2009, focused on advancing major Upstream projects as well as investments in environmental initiatives. Planned capital and exploration expenditures in 2010 are $3.2 billion.
• Contributed to Canadian communities - Imperial contributed $23 million to Canadian communities in 2009, including $2 million towards math and science education. Special contributions in the fourth quarter included a $1 million commitment to the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy and an $8 million aircraft to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology for use in its School of Transportation's aircraft maintenance, avionics and structures programs.

Full year highlights
• Net income was $1,579 million, down from $3,878 million in 2008.
• Net income per common share decreased to $1.84 compared to $4.36 in 2008.
• Cash flow from operations was $1,591 million, versus $4,263 million in 2008.
• Capital and exploration expenditures were $2,438 million, up 79 percent.
• Gross oil-equivalent barrels of production averaged 293 thousands of barrels per day, compared to 308 thousands of barrels per day in 2008.
• Imperial distributed a total of $833 million cash to shareholders in 2009 through dividends and share repurchases, compared with $2,540 million in 2008.
• Per-share dividends paid in 2009 totaled $0.40, up from $0.37 in 2008.

Full year 2009 vs. full year 2008
Net income for the full year of 2009 was $1,579 million or $1.84 a share on a diluted basis, versus $3,878 million or $4.36 a share for the full year 2008.

Upstream net income for the year was $1,324 million versus $2,923 million in 2008. Lower crude oil and natural gas commodity prices in 2009 reduced revenues, impacting earnings by about $2,400 million as a result of the global economic downturn. Earnings were also negatively impacted by lower Cold Lake bitumen production of about $100 million and lower conventional volumes from expected reservoir decline of about $60 million. These factors were partially offset by lower royalty costs due to lower commodity
prices of about $600 million and the impact of a lower Canadian dollar of about $325 million.

The average price of Brent crude oil in U.S. dollars, a common benchmark for world oil markets, at $61.61 a barrel, declined about 36 percent from 2008. The company's realizations on sales of Canadian conventional crude oil and synthetic crude oil from Syncrude production mirrored the same trend as world prices.

Prices for Canadian heavier crude oil also declined along with the lighter crude oil. The company's average realizations for Cold Lake bitumen fell about 25 percent for the full year in 2009, compared to 2008, reflecting the narrowing price spread between light crude oil and Cold Lake bitumen. In 2009, realizations for natural gas averaged $4.11 a thousand cubic feet, down from $8.69 in 2008.

For the full year, gross production of Cold Lake bitumen was 141 thousand barrels a day this year, compared with 147 thousand barrels in 2008. Lower production volumes in 2009 were due to the cyclic nature of production at Cold Lake and well repairs in the northern part of the field. Drilling and steaming activities have since resumed in this area, and production is expected to return to normal levels.

During 2009, the company's share of gross production from Syncrude averaged 70 thousand barrels a day, compared with 72 thousand barrels in 2008. Planned maintenance activities in the first half of 2009, which included design modifications to improve long-term operational performance, contributed to the reduced production for the full year in 2009.

Gross production of conventional crude oil averaged 25 thousand barrels a day in 2009, compared with 27 thousand barrels in 2008. The natural reservoir decline in the Western Canadian Basin was the main reason for the reduced production.

In the year, gross production of natural gas was 295 million cubic feet a day, down from 310 million cubic feet in 2008. The lower production volume was primarily a result of natural reservoir decline.

Net income from Downstream was $278 million in 2009, compared with $796 million in 2008. Earnings in 2008 included a gain of $187 million from the sale of Rainbow Pipe Line Co. Ltd. Also impacting earnings in 2009 were lower overall margins of about $270 million and lower sales volumes of about $70 million due to the slowdown in the economy. These factors were partially offset by the favourable impact of a weaker Canadian dollar of about $40 million.

Net income from Chemical was $46 million, compared with $100 million in 2008. Earnings in 2009 were negatively impacted by lower overall margins as a result of the slow economy.

For the full year, net income effects from Corporate and other were negative $69 million, versus $59 million in 2008. Unfavourable effects in 2009 were primarily due to changes in share-based compensation charges and lower interest income from lower yields on cash balances.

During 2009, share repurchases were reduced to about 12 million shares for $492 million, including shares purchased from ExxonMobil, when compared to about 44 million shares purchased in 2008 for $2,210 million. Imperial did not make any significant share repurchases since the second quarter of 2009, as cash flow from operations was used to fund growth projects such as Kearl. The company will continue to evaluate its share-purchase program in the context of its overall capital activities.