Imperial Oil announces estimated second-quarter financial and operating results

Calgary, Alberta, July 28, 2011

Imperial’s earnings in the second quarter of 2011 were $726 million, up 40 percent or $209 million from 2010. The Upstream business was the primary contributor to this increase with strong earnings driven in part by higher production from our Cold Lake operations, which set another production record in the quarter. Overall, Upstream results were very good despite challenges in delivering conventional crude oil volumes from our Norman Wells operations as a result of third-party pipeline reliability issues in the quarter. I am especially pleased at how the organization continues to sustain base business operating performance while executing a complex portfolio of projects, including the Kearl oil sands project.

Our Downstream business continued to contribute solid results despite significant planned refinery maintenance activity, which impacted our second quarter results by about $95 million. Operations excellence remains a key focus for our Downstream business. Our Chemical segment performed very well with strong operations, sales, and margins contributing to another quarter of good earnings.

Imperial’s consistent, long-term and disciplined business approach has allowed us to continue to advance our growth plans for the company while sustaining focus and performance in our base business. Capital and exploration expenditures to the end of June were $1,784 million mostly directed to the continued development of the Kearl project. In addition to capital spending for Kearl, we continue to progress activity at Cold Lake, including the Nabiye project, and the production pilot at Horn River. Our continued strong business performance allowed us to finance these investments largely by cash flow from operations.

Click here to read our interim report news release.

Imperial Oil is one of Canada’s largest corporations and a leading member of the country’s petroleum industry. The company is a major producer of crude oil and natural gas, Canada’s largest petroleum refiner, a key petrochemical producer and a leading marketer with a coast-to-coast supply network that includes about 1,850 retail service stations.