
Imperial Oil reports $949M profit in second quarter
Earnings per share amounted to $1.86 on a diluted basis, compared with $2.11 during the same period last year.
The Calgary-based energy company reported $11.23 billion in total revenue and other income during the quarter, down from $13.38 billion during the same quarter last year.
The company says upstream production reached 427,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day, marking the highest second quarter in over 30 years.
Refinery throughput averaged 376,000 barrels per day during the quarter, compared with 387,000 barrels per day a year earlier.
Imperial Oil CEO John Whelan says the company completed its heaviest planned turnaround quarter for both its upstream and downstream businesses.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:IMO)

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Global News
2 hours ago
- Global News
Companies taking concrete steps toward capturing revenues from carbon dioxide
It can be used to make fuel, fertilizer, building material and even soap, but can carbon dioxide be a money maker, too? Carbon capture has long been a focus of emissions reduction efforts in Canada. It involves collecting the climate-warming gas from industrial sites and preventing it from entering the atmosphere, most often by stowing it away permanently underground. Less common has been capturing CO2 and making it into something useful. 'Carbon utilization does not have a big history. It's relatively nascent,' said Apoorv Sinha, chief executive of Carbon Upcycling. The Calgary-based company combines industrial waste products with carbon dioxide to make a cement-like product that can be used in concrete foundations and sidewalks. 'Canada actually punches well above its weight in carbon-to-value across the building material sector, even in carbon chemicals.' Story continues below advertisement Storing carbon has been the automatic go-to as industry has a wealth of experience doing it at a large scale, said David Sanguinetti, interim CEO at cleantech incubator Foresight Canada. While carbon utilization has the benefit of generating direct revenues from usable products, the economics are uncertain in a lot of cases, he said. 'It's either niche or not great right now with the current state of technology,' he said. 'If you don't have a price on carbon, then a lot of the current concepts that are out there, which are technically feasible — people have done it in the lab, they've proven it out — there isn't an economic driver to make it happen.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The Canadian Gas Association commissioned a report from Foresight Canada last year into the carbon utilization market, which concluded that storing carbon from large industrial emitters is likely to beat out using it — at least for the time being. Foresight sees southwestern Ontario being a good spot for carbon utilization to take root as there are clusters of large emitters and innovation hubs, but little in the way of infrastructure for underground storage like Alberta has. CO2 utilization falls into two categories — direct use or conversion. Direct use includes the long-standing practice of injecting the gas into mature oilfields to draw more barrels to the surface. Story continues below advertisement With conversion, the chemical makeup of the gas is altered to make products like aviation fuel and fertilizer. At a smaller scale, Calgary-based CleanO2 captures the gas from building heating systems and turns it into pearl ash used in its hand soap, shampoo and other products. One of the more promising applications has been using the gas in building materials so it's trapped permanently. Last week, Carbon Upcycling held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Ash Grove cement plant in Mississauga, Ont., where work on a commercial demonstration project is underway. Production is to begin next spring. CarbiCrete, based in Montreal, has developed technology for greener precast masonry and hardscapes — think concrete blocks, retaining walls and paving stones that can be sent to a construction site, not the ready-mix stuff churning in a truck's drum. Concrete is traditionally made up of cement, aggregate like rocks or gravel, and water. 'It's the most abundant manmade substance on the planet,' said Yuri Mytko, CarbiCrete's chief marketing officer. 'But cement has traditionally been the key ingredient and cement is hugely problematic in that it accounts for about eight per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.' CarbiCrete uses steelmaking slag instead of cement, and cures it in a chamber with CO2 instead of applying heat and steam. Story continues below advertisement 'You're left with a concrete product that has the same properties as cement-based concrete, except with none of the emissions associated with it and also with carbon having been permanently mineralized and removed from the atmosphere,' said Mytko. CarbiCrete licenses its technology to concrete product makers and helps them retrofit their plants. Dave Sawyer, principal economist at the Canadian Climate Institute said utilization can work by helping companies generate credits to sell, but it's a relatively small piece of the emissions-reduction picture. Carbon capture, utilization and storage in general has been painted by business and industry as 'one big silver bullet technology,' he said, but there are other emissions-busting approaches that should be getting more attention. For example, sodium ion batteries may be just as technically feasible as carbon capture, utilization and storage — and maybe cheaper. 'But we just keep going to this big lumpy thing … that is really cost prohibitive.' Sinha said carbon utilization gets a fraction of the support and resources of traditional storage projects, whose technology has been around for decades. 'What needs to happen is more support and a larger focus towards deploying these technologies quickly and testing them out. Because right now, just the amount of data — how to build these facilities, how to operate them — very little of it exists.'


Global News
3 hours ago
- Global News
Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu eyes new markets, smaller trade delegations
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Story continues below advertisement Sidhu served four years as a parliamentary secretary in roles reflecting all three branches of Global Affairs Canada: aid, trade and diplomacy. The job saw him represent Canada in trade promotion events in Southeast Asia and security forums in the Caribbean. Sidhu worked as a customs broker before politics — a job that focuses on navigating red tape and tariffs to secure the best rate for trading goods. Sidhu said he plans to visit Brazil soon as the South American country seeks to revive trade talks that kicked off in 2018 between the Mercosur trade bloc and Canada. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy His predecessor Mary Ng put an emphasis on large trade missions which took months to plan. The minister would sometimes fill a plane with corporate and business leaders, spending a substantial chunk of time in one or two countries. Sidhu said he is hoping to bring smaller delegations of companies with him on his trips abroad, with a focus on specific sectors, 'whether it's South America, Indo-Pacific to Europe, to Africa.' 'Businesses feel like they're heard, but they're also getting higher-level meetings on the opposite side in the countries that we take them into,' he said. Ottawa is navigating its trade ties with China as the two countries work to revive the decades-old Joint Economic and Trade Commission, a forum to sort out trade irritants. Story continues below advertisement China has been roundly accused of engaging in coercive trade practices and of restricting certain commodities or services like tourism during political disagreements with Ottawa. Sidhu said the goal there is to offer 'stability' to industry, with an emphasis on 'how do we work through those challenges, and how do we make sure that those conversations are facilitated.' Sidhu also downplayed the chances of a bilateral trade deal with the United Kingdom. Trade talks collapsed last year over the U.K.'s desire to sell more cheese in Canada and after Britain blocked Canadian hormone-treated beef. Both countries are using a temporary deal put in place after Britain left the European Union, and the U.K. will soon enter a trade bloc that focuses on the Pacific Rim, Sidhu noted. He said Canada would still be open to a full deal. 'If U.K. and Canadian businesses already have access on 99 per cent of the items that we trade, then if we're looking at trade agreements, we need to make sure that we're getting the best value for our negotiations,' Sidhu said. 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Sidhu said Global Affairs Canada is still sorting out how Carney's decision to cut spending in all departments will affect the trade branch. 'It's really going to be a focused approach, of where we can make the best impact,' Sidhu said. The Business Council of Canada has urged Ottawa to expand the number of trade commissioners, who provide the contacts on the ground for Canadian companies looking for export opportunities. While Sidhu did not say whether Ottawa's cuts will mean fewer trade commissioners, he said he's heard a clear message from chambers of commerce that these positions are extremely valuable. 'It comes down to return on investments, what programs are working (and) where can we get the best bang for our buck for Canadian industry and Canadian workers,' he said. Story continues below advertisement 'A lot of the business community doesn't even know that (the Trade Commissioner Service) is there to help. And so my job is to help amplify that.'


CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Companies taking concrete steps toward capturing revenues from carbon dioxide
A CarbiCrete curing chamber in which CO2 is permanently mineralized into concrete during the curing process is seen in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — CarbiCrete (Mandatory Credit) It can be used to make fuel, fertilizer, building material and even soap, but can carbon dioxide be a money maker, too? Carbon capture has long been a focus of emissions reduction efforts in Canada. It involves collecting the climate-warming gas from industrial sites and preventing it from entering the atmosphere, most often by stowing it away permanently underground. Less common has been capturing CO2 and making it into something useful. 'Carbon utilization does not have a big history. It's relatively nascent,' said Apoorv Sinha, chief executive of Carbon Upcycling. The Calgary-based company combines industrial waste products with carbon dioxide to make a cement-like product that can be used in concrete foundations and sidewalks. 'Canada actually punches well above its weight in carbon-to-value across the building material sector, even in carbon chemicals.' Storing carbon has been the automatic go-to as industry has a wealth of experience doing it at a large scale, said David Sanguinetti, interim CEO at cleantech incubator Foresight Canada. While carbon utilization has the benefit of generating direct revenues from usable products, the economics are uncertain in a lot of cases, he said. 'It's either niche or not great right now with the current state of technology,' he said. 'If you don't have a price on carbon, then a lot of the current concepts that are out there, which are technically feasible — people have done it in the lab, they've proven it out — there isn't an economic driver to make it happen.' The Canadian Gas Association commissioned a report from Foresight Canada last year into the carbon utilization market, which concluded that storing carbon from large industrial emitters is likely to beat out using it — at least for the time being. Foresight sees southwestern Ontario being a good spot for carbon utilization to take root as there are clusters of large emitters and innovation hubs, but little in the way of infrastructure for underground storage like Alberta has. CO2 utilization falls into two categories — direct use or conversion. Direct use includes the long-standing practice of injecting the gas into mature oilfields to draw more barrels to the surface. With conversion, the chemical makeup of the gas is altered to make products like aviation fuel and fertilizer. At a smaller scale, Calgary-based CleanO2 captures the gas from building heating systems and turns it into pearl ash used in its hand soap, shampoo and other products. One of the more promising applications has been using the gas in building materials so it's trapped permanently. Last week, Carbon Upcycling held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Ash Grove cement plant in Mississauga, Ont., where work on a commercial demonstration project is underway. Production is to begin next spring. CarbiCrete, based in Montreal, has developed technology for greener precast masonry and hardscapes — think concrete blocks, retaining walls and paving stones that can be sent to a construction site, not the ready-mix stuff churning in a truck's drum. Concrete is traditionally made up of cement, aggregate like rocks or gravel, and water. 'It's the most abundant manmade substance on the planet,' said Yuri Mytko, CarbiCrete's chief marketing officer. 'But cement has traditionally been the key ingredient and cement is hugely problematic in that it accounts for about eight per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.' CarbiCrete uses steelmaking slag instead of cement, and cures it in a chamber with CO2 instead of applying heat and steam. 'You're left with a concrete product that has the same properties as cement-based concrete, except with none of the emissions associated with it and also with carbon having been permanently mineralized and removed from the atmosphere,' said Mytko. CarbiCrete licenses its technology to concrete product makers and helps them retrofit their plants. Dave Sawyer, principal economist at the Canadian Climate Institute said utilization can work by helping companies generate credits to sell, but it's a relatively small piece of the emissions-reduction picture. Carbon capture, utilization and storage in general has been painted by business and industry as 'one big silver bullet technology,' he said, but there are other emissions-busting approaches that should be getting more attention. For example, sodium ion batteries may be just as technically feasible as carbon capture, utilization and storage — and maybe cheaper. 'But we just keep going to this big lumpy thing ... that is really cost prohibitive.' Sinha said carbon utilization gets a fraction of the support and resources of traditional storage projects, whose technology has been around for decades. 'What needs to happen is more support and a larger focus towards deploying these technologies quickly and testing them out. Because right now, just the amount of data — how to build these facilities, how to operate them — very little of it exists.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2025. Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press